Environmental, social and governance (ESG)

Overview

The Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practice area allows the for-profit sector to prioritize social purposes in tandem with their general corporate initiatives. These social purposes range from endeavors that focus on important societal issues, environmental sustainability, employee development and community engagement. Increasingly, ESG issues are becoming business priorities for companies. Recent political and cultural events have shown that businesses want to take a stand on human rights and social justice issues by prioritizing stakeholders – not just shareholders, and consumers are beginning to demand these initiatives as well. Further, businesses that embrace this practice area have a track record of outperforming companies lacking emphasis on environmental, social and corporate governance performance, including S&P 500 Index companies.

This umbrella expertise demonstrates the collaborative nature of the firm’s legal and business advisory experience and applies it to today’s business environment. This cross-disciplinary practice area allows the firm to deliver the best value and fit for our clients who are actively engaged in, or looking to enter, the social impact space through their for-profit activities.  

Attorneys with experience in a variety of practice areas provide advice and counsel for businesses to:

• Deliver value to customers and stakeholders 
• Invest in employees
• Work with suppliers in an inclusive and equitable manner 
• Operate in an environmentally sustainable manner
• Support the local community in which they operate
• Protect clients’ mission, vision, and values across the legal landscape

In addition to acting as general corporate counsel to support the dual objectives of profit and purpose for clients, the practice area offers the following services to clients:

• Entity Formation and Conversion - Obtain third-party B Corp certification and form state-level benefit corporations to allow entities the greatest flexibility to achieve their beneficial purposes
• Mergers and Acquisitions – Represent both strategic buyers and sellers, including private companies and private equity funds in various types of transactions by providing legal representation to conduct due diligence with a social impact lens in order to negotiate deal structures and advise clients regarding responsible exit strategies with longevity of the company and cultural factors prioritized 
• Renewable Energy – Provide cutting-edge ESG guidance to clients in the renewable energy space relating to lending, developing, tax credits, construction, and energy procurement
• Public Finance - Identify local funding incentives, including social impact bonds, and public-private partnership opportunities
• Real Estate – Advise clients regarding investments in affordable housing and in economically distressed areas
• Additional expertise is available in other areas such as Employee Benefits and Estate Planning