Modern Slavery Act Statement

At DAC Beachcroft we are relentless in our pursuit of delivering quality and excellence for our clients. We use our professional expertise with integrity and in a responsible manner, aligning our actions and decisions to the highest standards of business conduct and being alert to situations that pose ethical questions. Modern slavery is a crime and a violation of fundamental human rights. This statement underlines our commitment to ensuring modern slavery is not taking place anywhere in and around our organisation.

Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement

October 2018

This statement is made by DAC Beachcroft LLP on behalf of itself and its wholly owned subsidiaries DAC Beachcroft Claims Limited and DAC Beachcroft Services Limited which operate as part of the DAC Beachcroft Group. This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (the "Act") and constitutes our slavery and human trafficking statement.

DAC Beachcroft LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales (registered number OC317852) and is the parent company in the DAC Beachcroft Group, which is made up of separately constituted and regulated legal entities providing legal services in different jurisdictions.  

DAC Beachcroft Claims Limited is a limited company providing legal services registered in England and Wales (registered number 04218278). DAC Beachcroft Services Limited is a limited company registered in England and Wales (registered number 05560211).

For further information on our group structure please click here.

Our Approach 

As a law firm, we always work to the highest professional standards and comply with all laws, regulations and rules relevant to our business. Our recently appointed Head of Responsible Business works with leadership teams across our network to improve the impact of our business on the societies and the economies of the regions within which our offices are based.

We expect the same high standards from those we work with and are committed to ensuring that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains or in any part of our business. Our Anti-Slavery Policy is published on our intranet site and is one of a number of policies affirming our commitment to being an ethical, sustainable and responsible business.

Our Practice Governance & Risk group works in conjunction with our HR and Procurement functions to help ensure that our Anti-Slavery Policy is complied with and to manage any concerns or breaches.

Our Whistleblowing Policy which is published on our intranet site is designed to enable concerns about any wrongdoing or breaches of law to be raised in confidence without fear of disciplinary action.

Supplier Due Diligence 

Our procurement process includes vetting every new supplier and carrying out a risk analysis based on the nature and value of the product or service, it incorporates specific measures to ensure that our obligations under the Act are passed through our supply chain

All our suppliers are expected to comply with all local and national laws and regulations and we ask for information about:

• Monitoring of tier 1 and 2 supply chains for unfair practices;
• Policies on fair sourcing of goods and services;
• Employment practices such as advertising vacancies, work/life balance;
• Training for staff;
• Diversity data;
• Corporate Social Responsibility; and
• Willingness to share our values.

We have also taken steps to expand our framework to address the risk of slavery and human trafficking including;

• Obtaining contractual warranties that no slavery is used anywhere in the supplier's business or by any of the suppliers in its supply chain and that all necessary processes and policies have been put into place to ensure that this remains the case;
• Adding indemnity provisions and rights to terminate for breach of our Anti-Slavery Policy into our contracts;
• Extending risk mapping to include location, the length of the relationship and any other existing information to enable us to rate suppliers;
• Ensuring risk areas are documented, monitored and taken into consideration in any future contract renewals.

We have now obtained a contractual right to request compliance-related information from suppliers and also have a contractual right to audit suppliers at our discretion. Our internal supplier audit programme is being developed and will include an assessment of compliance with the Act.

Supplier responses are taken into consideration when short-listing and we make any concerns known to the supplier. Should suppliers fail to meet our standards or be unwilling to make any changes we may cease to engage with them.

Our Clients

As a law firm, we are required by applicable legislation and regulations to identify our client and the nature of their instructions. Building up a client profile by carrying our client due diligence allows us to identify any specific risks related to a new client of the business and helps us to ensure that we do not act for clients in circumstances where it is illegal or inappropriate to do so. All staff are required to report any breaches of our policies, law or regulation to our Practice Governance & Risk Team.

Training 

We are committed to ensuring that DAC Beachcroft staff are equipped to identify risk factors of possible slavery and that they understand the implications of the Act for our business. We have developed and deployed training on recognising and reporting any breaches of the Act to our business. It is compulsory for those who need to be the most vigilant to ensure that slavery or human trafficking are not taking place within our organisation or our supply chain including the Practice Governance & Risk group, HR and Procurement functions.

We are continually reviewing our systems to ensure we have robust policies and processes in place to mitigate the risk of Modern Slavery.

 

 

Virginia Clegg
Designated Member
DAC Beachcroft LLP