CSR - Dehns

Our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives define who we are as a firm. They are a vital part of business, not only for our employees but our clients as well. We aim to involve every member of Dehns in our CSR programme to promote the core values and behaviours that underpin our identity.

Our People

Dehns has a diverse workforce drawing on expertise from a wide range of technical and commercial sectors. We value the individuality of our people as we believe that this encourages an ethos of creativity and excellence that benefits both colleagues and clients.

We encourage our people to work together with mutual respect as we believe that this provides an environment within which to develop. We provide a stimulating environment for our many trainees which proves very successful as evidenced by the many prizes that have been awarded to our trainees for their exceptional examination performance.

Diversity and inclusion

Dehns is an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to providing equal opportunities throughout employment with us, including in the recruitment, training and promotion of employees, and to eliminating discrimination in the workplace, whether on grounds of gender, marital status, sexual orientation, colour, racial or ethnic origins, nationality, religion or belief, disability or age.

All job applicants and employees are treated equally and we make every effort to make reasonable adjustments where appropriate for disabled applicants and employees.

We are proud members of IP Inclusive. IP Inclusive is a network of Intellectual Property professionals working to make our community more equal, diverse and inclusive.

We are also committed members of Inclusive Employers. Established in 2011, Inclusive Employers are experts on workplace inclusion. They are a leading membership organisation for employers who are committed to prioritising inclusion and creating truly inclusive workplaces.

Community Investment

We fully understand the importance of community investment as a way of contributing to the social, economic and environmental well-being of the people around whom we work. Dehns provides benefits to our local communities in a number of ways.

Many of our attorneys are ‘STEM Ambassadors’ and spend time in schools and colleges to promote careers in STEM subjects. They also provide guidance and education through interactive workshops and talks. Many others at Dehns also strongly encourage student-focused activities, such as work experience, to learn more about different career options and promote other roles in the firm such as marketing, finance and IT, and secretarial and paralegal roles.

Dehns attorneys often present to science undergraduates and postgraduates, describing the role of a patent attorney and providing introductory seminars for university students considering a career in IP. We also offer an annual, paid, two week summer placement scheme to university students. Our scheme is run so that successful applicants gain as much exposure to what it is like to work at Dehns as possible. We mirror the way in which a trainee comes into the Firm, so individuals are assigned a “buddy” (a trainee patent or trade mark attorney) to assist them. They also get to work on live cases, spread over a number of fee-earners to show them the variety of work that they could be involved in as a trainee patent or trade mark attorney.

Charity

Dehns actively encourages individuals to support local charities. Since 2018, Dehns staff have raised more than £50,000 for our nominated charities.

Each year we support a number of charities, inviting everyone in the Firm to nominate a charity at both local and firm-wide levels. Nominations are then put out to the entire firm to vote on, and the charity with the most votes at each level is elected to be supported for the next 12 months.

Our firm-wide charity for 2024/25 is War Child, the only specialist charity for children affected by conflict. For more than two decades, War Child have been working to ensure a safe future for every child living through war. Our local office charities are:

• Brighton – Rockinghorse Children’s Charity
• Bristol – inHope
• London – The Passage
• Manchester – Greater Manchester Asbestos Victims Support Group
• Munich – Helferkreis für Flüchtlinge e.V.
• Oslo – Sykehusklovnene
• Oxford – Oxford Food Hub

Through our ‘Charity & Social’ group, made up of Dehns employees, we organise regular fundraising initiatives, from dress-down days and bake-offs, cycling week-ends and a “Dehns dash” event, to regular annual events such as Christmas Jumper Day, our end of year Christmas party raffle and our online spring quiz.

Individuals participating in their own charitable events, such as running a marathon or other sporting fundraiser, are also encouraged to invite colleagues to support them. Contributions by our own members are matched by the Partners’ Charitable Fund (PCF). The Dehns Partnership aims to be a responsible member in the community. Each year an amount of money is allocated to match donations raised by Dehns employees for the firm-wide and local office nominated charities. In addition, it will also match fundraising amounts pledged by Dehns employees to individual employees who participate in charitable events to raise money for their own nominated charity.

Environment

We are conscious of our environmental impact and seek to reduce the use of raw materials, energy and supplies and continuously look for ways to improve our environmental performance. Dehns accepts responsibility for the harmful effects its operations have on both the local and global environment and is committed to reducing them through a number of initiatives:

Dehns actively promotes recycling and minimises waste by evaluating operations and ensuring they are as efficient as possible. We usually employ e-mail in corresponding with our clients to reduce the amount of paper we use.
All staff are provided with a reusable water bottle to reduce the amount of single use plastic we consume.
Where possible, we promote the use of virtual meetings – for example in the last 18 months we have held our monthly IP clinics with Norwegian organisations online, rather than in person, thereby reducing the need to travel. We are also encouraging the use of online meetings internally, rather than travelling to other offices, further reducing our carbon emissions. In addition, we are implementing hybrid working practices for the future whereby people can work from home and in the office.
Another way we try to reduce our environmental footprint is through our Cycle to Work Scheme and supplying sufficient bike storage at all offices. This allows employees to purchase a bicycle and safety equipment to be used when commuting to/from work.
We have implemented a training programme for all staff to raise awareness of environmental issues and enlist their support in improving the firm’s performance, making sure we are compliant with all relevant legislation.

Dehns is committed to these initiatives by continually measuring the firm’s impact on the environment and set targets for on-going performance. Our Environmental Social Responsibility Group, made up of volunteers across the firm, meets regularly to discuss these matters and identify any way we can reduce our carbon footprint.

We want to do well by doing good. This year we’re proud to be members of Heart of the City – they’re supporting us to develop a responsible business programme that will help us have a positive impact on people, places and the planet.

We are committed to developing activities around connecting with and supporting our local community, making sure our business practices are environmentally friendly and improving our workplace for employees. We’re excited to keep you updated with what we’re doing!