Introduction
Irwin Mitchell LLP is unique, both in its culture and its approach to law. Nationally acclaimed, with strong international capabilities, Irwin Mitchell LLP is one of a few law firms to provide a diverse range of legal services to businesses and private individuals. It has a strong customer service culture and a high level of client retention.
In December 2015 Irwin Mitchell merged with Thomas Eggar, creating the 11th largest law firm in the UK with 2800 staff, 287 Partners and 14 offices.
Our Structure
The company has a group structure with Irwin Mitchell Holdings Limited sitting above Irwin Mitchell LLP and a number of subsidiaries. It has an established office network covering Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Leeds, London, Gatwick, Manchester, Newcastle, Southampton, Chichester, Newbury, Sheffield, and a consulting office in Middlesbrough. Irwin Mitchell Scotland LLP is a separate Scottish legal practice regulated by the Law Society of Scotland and has an office in Glasgow.
Irwin Mitchell LLP provides a wide range of legal services to over 200,000 clients a year, with particular strengths in litigation. The firm is divided into two divisions: Personal Legal Services (PLS) and Business Legal Services (BLS). It adopts a partnership approach to its clients, underpinned by the latest technology, innovative pricing and excellent service delivery.
Our Policies
As part of our commitment to combating modern slavery, we maintain a number of policies, including but not limited to:
- Whistleblowing Policy
- Anti-Bribery & Corruption Policy
- Procurement Policy
- Employment and recruitment policies which comply with all UK law
Our Due Diligence Processes
As part of our efforts to monitor and reduce the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring within our supply chain, we have taken the following steps:
- gathered information from the business concerning existing suppliers;
- identified tier 1 suppliers to our business by reference to level of annual financial spend;
- conducted a risk assessment of tier 1 suppliers including the nature / type of business and any adverse press / regulatory findings; and
- sought confirmation from those suppliers of their own compliance with the Modern Slavery Act (where appropriate) and their commitment to ethical business practices and transparency in their own supply chains.
These steps have been taken to enable us to:
- establish and assess areas of potential risk in our business and supply chains;
- monitor potential risk areas in our business and supply chains;
- reduce the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in our business and supply chains; and
- provide adequate protection for whistleblowers.
Risk and compliance
Irwin Mitchell LLP has taken steps to evaluate the nature and extent of its exposure to the risk of modern slavery occurring in its supply chain. We do not consider that we operate in high risk sectors or locations.
We do not tolerate slavery and human trafficking within our supply chains and would immediately seek to terminate our relationship with a supplier where evidence of a failure to comply with our policies was discovered.
Our People
We will be providing training to our staff on the requirements of the Act in order to ensure a high level understanding of the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains and our business.
This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes Irwin Mitchell LLP’s slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending 30 April 2016.
Andrew Tucker
Group Chief Executive
Irwin Mitchell LLP
October 2016
Download a copy of this statement (PDF)