Ireland

Our Green Committee look after many of our CSR and green initiatives across the firm. The committee, made up of staff from all levels of seniority, have been instrumental in bringing about real and lasting change implemented firm-wide. Green practice is a core value of the firm and it is fundamental to how the business is run. Maintaining a green practice is an ongoing project and one to which Ogier is firmly committed to. Ogier strives to always be better and greener where it can be.

We were Ireland’s first paperless office and our continuing drive for efficiency and the avoidance of waste in our business management has been recognised with ISO9001 certification.

Our decision to go paperless means that we have significantly reduced our CO2 emissions and carbon footprint. The average lawyer can use anywhere between 20,000 to 100,000 pages of paper a year. By our calculations, by going paperless we save over 1 million pages of paper a year. That’s 50 trees!

We started composting by segregating food waste from the general and recycling wastes. This initiative is aimed at reducing the amount of food waste accumulated in the office, which ultimately ends up in landfills and produces methane emissions. Not only have we continued this initiative since its introduction, but we have expanded this measure to all businesses throughout the Ogier Group.

Electrical waste is one of the fastest-growing waste streams in the world, with a record 53.6 million metric tonnes of electronic waste generated worldwide in 2019. In recognition of this issue, we introduced battery bins throughout the office to collect any depleted batteries. These batteries are then delivered to a local authority recycling centre to ensure they are disposed of in a safe manner.

In the last number of years, we have made significant changes to our suppliers and to the materials we use in the office. We source all supplies and materials from local and more environmentally conscious suppliers. By switching to local and ‘green’ suppliers, we have also reduced our carbon footprint significantly by no longer relying on international shipments.

Since 2011 Ogier in Ireland has raised more than €250,000 for charities, each of which does very important work in our local and wider communities. 

Over the years we’ve assisted Together Academy, Aoibhneas, Pieta House, Irish Autism Action, Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind, Paralympics Ireland, Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland, The Samaritans, The Simon Community, Crumlin Children’s Hospital, Focus Ireland and the Marie Keating Foundation.

Being involved in our local business and social community is truly important for us. We have always supported local business and are delighted to see their continuing success.

In 2021, we engaged in voluntary concepts such as Simon Soup Run, Prison Education, Irish Rule of Law, Calcutta Run, Darkness into Light, KIVA (the world’s first online lending platform), CoderDojo(volunteer-led, community-based computer programming clubs for young people), and ProBono work.

Every year before Christmas, our staff head out to the streets of Dublin armed with collection boxes and loud jubilant singing voices, to support crucial homeless charity, Saint Vincent de Paul. Homeless charities in Dublin experience great pressure in winter and we are delighted to assist them in any small way. 

For 2023’s Ogier Leman Challenge, our teams of solicitors and office staff pulled together to raise money for Together Academy, with a suite of physical and sporting challenges that took place over one day. We managed to raise over €20,000 for the organisation, a result of which we are so proud.

In 2021, we focused on the area of mental health with our ‘Around the World in 80 days’ theme, travelling 40,000km virtually around the world to raise funds for Pieta, Dublin Samaritans, Aware and SpunOut.ie.

On Tuesday 7 March 2023, in advance and in honour of International Women's Day and in support of women's refuge and support service Aoibhneas - Ogier 's Irish office and their diversity and inclusion leaders welcomed friends, contacts and  employees for coffee, pastries and conversation at Angelina's in Ballsbridge. Over 76 women arrived at Angelina's to listen to our panel of female financial experts on the topic of investment for impact. Happily, we raised over €1845 for the charity.