Not for nothing are law firms in New York Washington , D.C.
Quickly realized cost savings have been "a really good promotional tool" for attracting signatories to the challenge, said Daniel A. Eisenberg, vice chairman of the air quality committee of the ABA Section of Environment, Energy and Resources.
"Our first year was slow, there weren't a lot of ways we could spread the word," said Mr. Eisenberg, an associate at Beveridge & Diamond in
Money saved, as the old saw goes, is money earned. For example:
• Erik J. Sekler, executive director of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, estimates a combined annual savings of $450,000 as the result of upgrading the firm's lighting fixtures and laptop computers with more energy-efficient models, switching photocopy machines to double-side default and using recycled paper and ink toner cartridges
• Tania Shah, firmwide director of corporate responsibility at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, estimates $200,000 in yearly savings achieved simply by state-of-the-art lighting and office climate control. San Francisco New York New York
• Christopher M. Zegers, director of information technology at Herrick, Feinstein, attributed savings of about $220,000 to new computer virtualization programs that reduced his firm's need of 30 servers to about eight -- with added and even greater savings in reduced power and cooling needs.
Mr. Zegers sees virtualization, which compacts as many as six functions into a single server, as "the biggest cost savings and ecologically sound" advance in green technology. He noted surveys forecasting energy usage by Internet data centers to surpass that of the airline industry by 2015.
Too early to be calculated are individual savings for green-conscience lawyers, such as a special Zipcar opportunity at Pillsbury offices in New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and London -- places where renting a car by the hour can make more sense than owning and garaging a personal vehicle, thereby adding to traffic congestion and air pollution.
Under a new partnership with Zipcar, Pillsbury picks up annual membership fees for its personnel -- about $100 in
But besides significant corporate and personal economizing, said Mr. Zegers, young lawyers especially "want to see that they're going into a green environment." Clients, he added, are "more and more looking to their vendors, including their law firms, to see how they're addressing being green."
"But money isn't our motivating factor," said David A. Crichlow, managing partner of Pillsbury's
Noting that his firm, as well as others, contract with car service companies offering hybrid fleet vehicles, Mr. Crichlow said, "A lot of this is driven by our wanting to do the right thing. We recognize that we've got to do our share to promote a sustainable environment. There are little steps we can all take, but if all firms took them together they'll have a great effect."
At Shearman & Sterling, which in common with all firms polled by the Law Journal rolled out its package of environmental initiatives during Earth Day on April 22, green goes from the office to employees' homes.
Joel A. Wirchin, director of administration for the New York
Signing On
At present, there are 85 signatories to the "Law Office Climate Challenge," issued by the American Bar Association and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Daniel A. Eisenberg, vice chairman of the air quality committee of the ABA Section of Environment, Energy and Resources, expects that number to increase to 100 by summer's end.
Law firms in New York state who have signed on to the challenge include the Manhattan office of Arnold & Porter; Bond Schoeneck & King; Chadbourne & Parke; Cuddy & Feder of White Plains, N.Y.; Davis Polk & Wardwell; Harris Beach; Holland & Knight; Morrison & Foerster; Nixon Peabody; O'Melveney & Meyers; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett; Weil, Gotshal & Manges; and Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal.
Join in
• Purchase paper with at least 30 percent recycled content; use double-sided photocopying and printing whenever possible; recycle discarded paper.
• Participate in the EPA's Green Power Partnership program to reduce electrical uses generated by coal-fired plants (details at www.epa.gov/grnpower).
• Convert to low-energy overhead fluorescent lighting, use new low-energy bulbs for ambient lighting.
• Use office equipment and appliances approved by ENERGY STAR, an efficiency ratings program jointly administered by the EPA and U.S. Department of Energy.
• Install virtualization software in computer servers to increase efficiency and reduce power/cooling needs.
• Increase telecommuting.
• Organize office car pools.
• Contract with car service companies that use hybrid fleet vehicles.
"I don't think anybody believes we're saving three whales a minute or something like that," said Mr. Wirchin, "but I also think that people believe we're not just giving lip service to the need to change behavior in order to address real problems."
Thomas C. Jensen, an environmental law partner at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal's Washington, D.C., office envisions a day -- soon to come -- when law firms engage in "vigorous competition, akin to the way we market our diversity initiatives and our pro bono commitments" to reduce waste and energy consumption and to embrace new technologies aimed at protecting the planet.
As chairman of an ABA ABA U.S. U.S.
According to a national survey by the
If attorneys were to adopt recommendations by the law office challenge, said Howard Hoffman, general counsel for the EPA, they could cut individual greenhouse gas production nearly in half.
Further, according to EPA estimates provided by Mr. Hoffman, the typical
What strikes Mr. Jensen as a "mind-blowingly large number" is the measure of paper used by all offices of Sonnenschein -- approximately 65 million sheets annually.
"If we cut back just 10 percent, we're talking about 6 million sheets," he said. Paper prices being what they are, he added, "That's a big deal."
Mr. Jensen described such a cut, as well as many other green initiatives at Sonnenschein and other firms, as part of "a collective national discovery of how much low-hanging fruit there is out there in terms of changing our environmental behavior."
Looking toward a future of ever more sophisticated and effective change for the better, Mr. Jensen predicted, "Technology is there, and capital will be there. Over the next 10 to 20 years, we will have progress that will dwarf any industrial push we've ever seen. It's going to be a great, great period in our history."
Contact Thomas Adcock.
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