"Law firms urged to lead fight against modern slavery", 16 Aug 2016

Law firms should be at the forefront of the fight against modern slavery, both in terms of their own impact as businesses and advising clients on meeting their human rights obligations, the Law Society has urged...At least one large law firm has plans to impose tough contractual conditions on its suppliers as part of an effort to root out possible exploitation of labour in its supply chain...A...survey found fewer than one in 10 of FTSE 500 companies – among those with over £36m annual revenues who will have to publish a slavery and human trafficking statement within six months of their financial year – had so far published statements...The survey...which painstakingly examined websites of each of the FTSE [Financial Times Stock Exchange] 500 companies for evidence of the statements, found six law firms had complied by June: DAC Beachcroft, Bevan Brittan, Clarke Wilmott, Freeths, TLT Solicitors – Mr Bourns’ firm – and Weightmans...[DAC Beachcroft] said it was “currently reviewing our entire procurement process and will be introducing specific measures to ensure that our obligations under the Act are passed through our supply chain”. Measures would include “obtaining contractual warranties that no slavery is used anywhere in the supplier’s business”...[Also refers to VinciWorks]