4 minute read
William Fry
WILLIAM FRY
Lasting Difference
Law firm William Fry is committed to making a positive and lasting difference in its community, workplace, marketplace and environment
Environmental sustainability is an important part of William Fry’s Responsible Business programme. The firm has identified its most significant environmental impacts and has set targets to improve its environmental performance. However, with the constraints of being a tenant in a building in a city, it needed to look further afield for an opportunity to positively contribute to the environment and find ways for staff to engage in a meaningful way beyond the commitment to reduce carbon emissions, paper use and waste production.
At one time, up to 80 per cent of Ireland was covered in native wildwood. Yet today, Ireland is the most deforested country in Europe.
Just over 1 per cent of that original forest cover remains. To combat this problem, William Fry is supporting Hometree, which works to establish and conserve permanent native woodland in Ireland, encouraging land regeneration and biodiversity through afforestation, restoration and education. Their vision is the restoration of Ireland’s ancient wildwood and aim to create a landscape in which people and forests flourish, together. By helping to restore biodiversity and regenerate the land, people’s wellbeing and engagement with the natural world is improved.
After engaging with Hometree through the donation of trees at the AmCham event in 2019, and with Hometree joining William Fry’s pro bono programme, William Fry gained a deeper understanding of Hometree’s aims and ambitions and was inspired to make a positive and lasting difference by contributing to the protection and recovery of Ireland’s biodiversity. The inspiration resulted in the establishment of William Fry’s first environmental partnership, with the expansion of the partnership to more than just pro bono support, but staff awareness and engagement, firm donations, fundraising and education. What started as simply a donation to Hometree has grown into a multifaceted meaningful partnership which encourages authentic engagement between William Fry and Hometree in promoting and supporting the protection of Ireland’s biodiversity.
Through the partnership, William Fry has provided over 400 hours of legal and non-legal pro bono support through its Social Impact+ programme across various departments; contributed to the funding of an education centre which has already seen over 400 visitors since build completion in late 2021; raised monies for the planting of over 1,000 native Irish trees; and seen more than
WILLIAM FRY
120 staff engage in fundraising and education opportunities with Hometree, and which is now expanding to include client engagement opportunities.
FRYTY PROGRAMME FryTY is a trainee-led Responsible Business initiative, inspired by the principles of Street Law and Junior Achievers, which educates Transition Year students in DEIS and rural schools on the potential impact of law in their lives and as a career. The overall aim is to increase the diversity in law.
William Fry trainees wanted to create a sustainable programme with which they, and all trainees to follow, could positively impact the community. They came
up with the idea of approaching disadvantaged local schools where the trainees could help young people think more intentionally about their careers and to show students who would not have considered a career in law that it is an exciting possibility in their future.
With a focus and desire to take steps to increase diversity in law, FryTY specifically targets DEIS schools and children in the rural communities and seeks to empower the students with information on how law impacts life and the feasibility, practicality, and possibility of a career in law. The goal was to ensure transition year students were better informed of their career opportunities when forming their impressions of what is possible in their future careers.
The course runs over a 6-week period, during which a different area of the law is explored each week, ranging from Constitutional Law to Criminal Law and more. The sessions include informal debates, quizzes and problem solving, and allows students to build confidence in legal topics and express their opinions.
With the trainees involved in all aspects of the programme from creating the curriculum, training and teaching, each session is created to be thought provoking and relatable to everyday life so students can understand how areas across life are controlled and greatly impacted by laws. Trainees tailored the programme to the relevant Covid-19 restrictions, carrying out all sessions online, which allowed the programme to be expanded to include rural schools.
Developed, designed and delivered by trainees, the FryTY programme has enabled over 45 trainees to make a positive and lasting difference to over 100 transition students since 2021— a unique way of honouring William Fry’s commitment to supporting diversity and inclusion in law and to increase access to careers in law for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
