Thinking Globally: Luper Neidenthal & Logan's International Recognition Continues

Luper Neidenthal & Logan's own David Scott was recently quoted in a feature story by Univision, the largest Spanish language television network in the United States and serving Mexico, Puerto Rico and Cuba.



The story is part of the “Mundo Verde” (Green World) series and is titled “La Ecologia En Tu Trabajo” (Ecology in the Workplace)



The article references the Green Guide for law firms, created by the Leadership Institute of the Meritas international affiliation of law firms, and discusses how decreasing waste and increasing efficiency helps the planet as well as companies’ bottom lines. David served as chairman of the Leadership Institute and is excited to see that its influence is being felt internationally. Read more!

Thinking Globally: Luper Neidenthal & Logan's Involvement in Meritas Green Guide Reaches Latin America

Those of you who are familiar with our blog already know that Luper Neidenthal and Logan’s own David Scott was the chairman of the “Leadership Institute” of the international affiliation of law firms known as Meritas, and that the Leadership Institute group created the “Green Guide” for law firms to adopt more sustainable practices. Recently the Venezuelan affiliate of Meritas was recognized by the Latin Lawyer publication for its push toward sustainability, and David’s fellow Leadership Institute member Merritt Storr (of the Bahamas affiliate) was quoted in regard to applications of the Green Guide.

Venezuelan firm sets the bar for carbon cutting
Published 15 August 2008 – From LatinLawyer.com

As part of a push to be greener from all Meritas network law firms, Venezuelan firm Bentata Abogados thinks it has become the first firm in Central or South America to digitise all its files.

Karel Bentata, the firm’s managing partner says, “The impact of this project was 100 per cent positive. We are not aware of any negative impact.”

But the move was not without its challenges. Bentata explains,“Perhaps the difficult part is designing the workflow to be followed. This means that each file has to be checked and then scanned in order to finally eliminate the excess paper.”

“Also, there is an important human factor which is reluctant to change. However, by identifying a technology friendly manager or director to begin your project, you maximise the
possibilities of a success story, which fortunately was our case,” he explains.

In order to achieve total digitisation, the firm had to spend US$50,000 on consulting, licensing, and powerful new computer server. But this cost was offset, explains Bentata, as digitisation allowed the firm to sell 100 square meters of premium office space, used exclusively as a
filing room.

“We are now able to respond to our clients immediately and don't have to wait, sometimes 24 hours, to get the files to the attorneys, since we had a second off-site filing facility,” he adds.

This year, the Meritas network of law firms – to which Bentata belongs - published The Green Guide for Lawyers, a best practices handbook for law firms on reducing waste and increasing efficiency.

One of its co-authors, Merrit Storr, a partner with Chancellors Chambers in the Bahamas,
says the idea came about because the guide’s producers “did not think that law firms in the Meritas network were aggressively seeking either to go green themselves or were appreciating the opportunities that exist with clients whose businesses were trying to go green.”

He explains, “firms need to start thinking about reducing paper use, maybe by recycling; reducing energy usage; investing in sustainability education for its employees; and investing in
or contributing to organisations that are spreading the message of sustainability.”

Bentata says his firm has been working on reducing its energy consumption for years, through reducing the number of its light bulbs and eliminating bottled water, adding that personal printers are soon to be a thing of the past in its offices.

A flexible working-from-home scheme for employees is to be introduced next year, though its etails have yet to be finalised.

In addition to these developments, Storr encourages law firms to conduct an environmental audit of their offices, and promote carpooling and energy efficient vehicles.

Additionally, he sees an opportunity in “entering discussions with industrial clients to help them comply and get ahead of the regulatory changes that are inevitable in a world concerned with global warming.”DT

Read more!