EP Goes Green

April 18, 2009

BANGOR, MAINE – June 30, 2009   Eaton Peabody has announced a new ‘Go Green’ Office Sustainability Initiative, joining other leading law firms across the globe. The goal is to reduce energy consumption and promote sustainability in its law practice.

“We recognize that all human activity, including the operation of a law firm, has an impact on the environment,” notes Managing Partner, Daniel McKay. “As we conduct our law practice, we make a variety of daily choices that can either reduce or increase that impact.”

Last March, the firm put together a Sustainability Team of eight to take on the task of formalizing a policy consistent with its commitments to provide top-quality legal services to clients and to be a good corporate citizen in the communities in which it practices.

“Just paper consumption alone in the day-to-day practice of the legal profession is astounding,” said Tamrah Brown, Human Resources Manager and Committee Member.

The policy outlines initiatives to reduce general office supplies, purchase sustainable products, eliminate disposables, increase recycling, reuse equipment, and offer employee incentives for adopting sustainable practices outside of the office.

Brown added, “We started looking at the obvious things, like reducing paper usage, and have worked our way to the larger things such as reducing electricity usage and providing commuter incentives.”

Over the past several years, the Firm has made a significant investment in state-of-the-art data systems that are enabling it to move toward a ‘paperless’ environment for document management and storage. The Firm’s professionals are trained to communicate both internally and externally without pressing ‘print’.

“One of our biggest concerns has been protection of client confidentiality,” said Stan McGowen, Firm Administrator. “We can’t just throw documents into open recycling bins, we have to be creative in that sense.”

Eaton Peabody contracts with an outside firm to provide secure shredding and recycling of paper. The firm also has adopted a number of internal security measures to ensure the confidentiality of electronic storage and communication.

Involving the community
As part of the Eaton Peabody’s launch of its Office Sustainability Initiative, local fifth grade students participated in a “Go Green” poster contest sponsored by the Firm. The winning posters will be used to promote the Firm’s office sustainability practices.

“It’s the subtleties that remind and encourage employees of what the overall Firm is trying to do here,” said Fawn Wentworth, Marketing Manager. “Simply adding ‘please consider the environment before printing this e-mail’ as part of our professionals’ internal and external electronic email signatures goes further than one would think.”

Educating employees
Because the daily actions of each person in the firm will contribute to the success of the policy, Eaton Peabody has provided sustainability training to all of its professional employees. Last week, Merritt Carey, of Maine Businesses for Social Responsibility, a statewide business organization dedicated to sustainable, socially responsible, and smart business practices, was the guest speaker at Eaton Peabody’s Annual Employee Recognition Luncheon. Her presentation served to underscore the Firm’s sustainability initiative.

The Committee recognizes that the sustainability is a work in progress.

“It’s a bit early in the game to start measuring results,” said Brown, “but we are confident that we are off to a good start.”
Where practicable, baselines will be established so that practices can be measured and progress reported periodically to firm management. As it measures its progress, the Firm will continue to investigate new ways to advance the goal of sustainability.

McKay states, “We recognize that sustainability is a long term goal and that the steps we have taken are small ones. But we are committed to this initiative and are proud to be in the forefront of Maine businesses giving visibility to the goal of sustainability. We hope that our initiative will encourage other area businesses to adopt similar policies.”
For more information on Eaton Peabody’s Office Sustainability Policy or to share your own company’s ‘Go Green’ initiatives, please contact Brown at 207-947-0111.

About Eaton Peabody
Founded in 1939, Eaton Peabody is a community-based law firm with more than 40 attorneys serving New England and Atlantic Canada from offices in Augusta, Bangor, Brunswick, and Ellsworth. The firm offers broad legal expertise through a variety of focused practice groups lead by attorneys listed in The Best Lawyers in America and favorably rated by clients in Chambers USA.


Media Contact
Fawn R. Wentworth, Marketing Manager
fwentworth@eatonpeabody.com
207-992-4805