Our Responsible Business Review of 24/25 details what we as a firm are committed to, how we have performed and the importance which we place on being a responsible business. This approach has been in our DNA throughout the firm's existence and although over time priorities change, the essence of being a good citizen has been constant.
Responsible Business
Making a difference to our communities, our people, our planet
Ward Hadaway takes its responsibilities very seriously:
- To the communities within which we live and work
- To our people, the firm’s most valuable resource
- And to the planet, the protection of which is the ultimate challenge for us all.
We have big ambitions to grow our firm and build on its proud history, continuing to deliver the highest quality legal services to clients across the country as a responsible independent law firm.
But this is only possible by collaborating with the communities in which we live and work, with the expertise and dedication of our people and in the environment which we all share.
What we describe over these pages are central to what we do as a firm and how we operate as a business.
We outline here the work which we have done, and the impact we have had over the course of the financial year 24/25, helping our communities, developing and supporting our people, and protecting our planet. These pages are updated with the production of each new annual report.
During the period that these pages report on, we had three offices – Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle. As a firm we now have five, adding Birmingham and Teesside in June and July 2025.
So you can expect to see even more activity across a wider geographical footprint when we publish our 25/26 report.
You’ll see the progress we’ve made and our plans to go further – our commitment to responsible business is continuous and runs through everything we do.
Much has been done but there is more to do. And as our firm grows, I look forward to working with colleagues and collaborators to further extend our impact.
Steven
Managing Partner
October 2025
Read our review
Our Responsible Business Strategy
Our Communities
Giving back to the communities in which we operate has always been, and will continue to be, a key priority for Ward Hadaway.
Our Environment
Environmental damage is one of the greatest challenges the world faces. And as a founding member of the Legal Sustainability Alliance and accredited to ISO14001, we are keen to play our part.
Our People
Our people are our most important asset. We have spent many years building a business and a team to be extremely proud of.
Case studies
We are incredibly proud of the contributions we make to support our communities, our planet and our people. Examples of some of the initiatives we are involved in can be found here.
Responsible business in action – from our Chair
As lawyers, we are used to taking responsibility. However, responsibility as a business goes much further.
It’s about realising that our impact and influence goes beyond the day-to-day tasks which we perform; that our collective presence and activity has the ability to support our communities, empower our people and protect our planet.
Realising this is one thing – acting upon it is what makes the crucial difference.
Actions not words define the history of Ward Hadaway. From our foundation in Newcastle in 1988 through our expansion to Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and Teesside, the firm has been about doing rather than saying.
This ethos also applies to our approach to being a good corporate citizen.
Amongst other things we have:
- worked to improve diversity across our workforce
- focused on health and wellbeing initiatives for our people to recognise the pressures of working in the profession
- invested in social mobility initiatives acknowledging that diversity begins by addressing ambition gaps in schools
- sought to understand how we as a business can respond to the increasing climate challenges
- worked with charities to support our communities to tackle challenges such as social isolation, the rising cost of living, health and wellbeing, worklessness and beyond.
These pages outline some of the work we have undertaken over the financial year 24/25, reflecting our commitment to our people, our communities, and the environment, encapsulating what it means to operate as a responsible business.
The restless spirit and quest for better, which has driven our expansion as a firm, is very much present in our approach to responsible business. Whilst we’re rightly proud of the progress we have made over the past years, we know that the work is far from finished and we are ready to meet the challenge of going further and faster in the years to come as Ward Hadaway continues to grow.
We are just as ambitious now as we were when our firm was established. It is just as exciting for us to think about the extra things which we can do for our communities, people and planet in the coming years as it is to think about the new clients, new challenges and new opportunities which lie ahead of us.
As Chair of the Responsible Business Board at Ward Hadaway, it is my responsibility to ensure that these considerations remain an integral part of our operations, our culture and our outlook as we move forward into the future.
It is a responsibility which I relish, but one I can only carry out with the support and commitment of the whole firm. We all have our part to play and I am sure everyone will all do their bit both now and in the years to come.
Colin
Chair of the Responsible Business Board
October 2025
Our values – from our Director of People
To succeed as a firm and as a responsible business, we have to be able to work collaboratively – with each other, our clients and our supply chain.
That’s why one of the key initiatives which we launched over the past year was our values and behaviour framework.
Our values underpin everything we do. Having a set of clearly defined values helps to create a collective culture which everyone can understand and buy into, both within Ward Hadaway and across our current and future clients and collaborators.
The Values and Behaviours Framework was developed by our People Team in partnership with people right across the firm – over 75% of our people actively engaged with the process, giving their thoughts and feedback.
This resulted in a clear set of values which guide our activities and behaviour as a firm:
- Straightforward
- Respectful
- Ambitious
But what do these values mean and how do they manifest themselves?
Straightforward – being clear and straightforward in everything we do diminishes uncertainty and has a big impact on performance. Having and explaining clear roles, responsibilities and rationale for our actions and decisions builds and supports trust both within the firm and with our clients and collaborators.
Respectful – we are an inclusive law firm which recognises, values and harnesses differences. We believe in an environment where everyone recognises and values each other and where people from all kinds of backgrounds and with all kinds of skills and experiences can work together.
Ambitious – we strive to be the best and recognise the power of positive change. We’re not just ambitious for our success as a law firm, we are ambitious for our people to become the best versions of themselves and for our clients and the communities we work in to succeed and grow.
These values and the behaviours and competencies which accompany them define the culture we take pride in, fostering an environment where our people thrive and feel fulfilled. This creates the foundation for us all to achieve our best, for the benefit of ourselves, our team, our clients and the wider world, as you’ll see in the coming pages.
Anna
Director of People
October 2025