1. Opening statement from senior management

   Corporate responsibility is a core value of our Firm. Modern slavery is a despicable and often concealed crime. It includes slavery, servitude, forces and compulsory labour, and human trafficking. The impact of which can be devastating for the victims. Paul Hastings (Europe) LLP is committed to preventing all acts of modern slavery from occurring within its business and supply chain, and expects the same high standards of its suppliers. This statement is made on behalf of the London office of Paul Hastings (Europe) LLP ("the Firm") pursuant to section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 ("the Act") and constitutes our slavery and human trafficking statement. Any references to "we", "us", "our", "Paul Hastings" or the Firm relate to Paul Hastings (Europe) LLP. In accordance with the Solicitors Regulation Authority's rules, we have appointed a Compliance Officer for Legal Practice ("COLP"). The COLP is responsible for ensuring that the Firm in London has policies and procedures in place that are designed to ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, including the Act.

2. Structure of the organisation

   The Firm provides legal services across a wide-range of disciplines and sectors. Paul Hastings LLP serves clients' global needs from 21 offices around the world including The Americas, Europe and Asia and is one of the world's most innovative global law firms. To find out more about the nature of our business, please click http://www.paulhastings.com. Paul Hastings (Europe) LLP operates as a limited liability partnership in England and Wales with branch offices in London, Brussels, Frankfurt and Paris with registered number OC306535 and is registered with the SRA (SRA ID number 398385) . The members of the Firm are solicitors or registered foreign lawyers authorised to practice in England & Wales.

3. Policy

   We are committed to ensuring that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in any part of our business and supply chain. Our commitment reflects our values of being a responsible business which operates ethically and with integrity. Through our Vendor and Supplier Code of Conduct we make sure our suppliers are aware of our policies, and adhere to the same high standards. We have an established Whistleblowing Policy which underpins our commitment to reporting any concerns about modern slavery and human trafficking. The aim of these procedures is to ensure that everyone is confident they can raise a reasonably held concern without fear of reprisal of detrimental treatment as a result.  

4. Supply chains

   The Firm engages suppliers for the provision of a range of goods and services in the areas of HR, technology, office cleaning and facilities services, recruitment agencies, and professional services from barristers and other advisers. These are provided to enable our lawyers to service our clients, and to support the efficient running of our firm. We seek to work with suppliers that share our values and adopt the same strict standards that we adhere to ourselves. We expect our suppliers to operate fair and ethical workplaces and do not tolerate any form of modern slavery within our supply chains.

5. Due diligence

   As part of our efforts to monitor and reduce the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring within our supply chains, we have adopted a Vendor and Supplier Code of Conduct, containing standards and values which suppliers are expected to disseminate throughout their own supplier network.

6. Risk and compliance

   The Firm evaluates the nature and extent of its exposure to the risk of modern slavery occurring in its supply chain by managers reviewing and evaluating their respective suppliers. As a professional services organisation that does not operate in high risk sectors or locations, we consider the risk of Modern Slavery existing within our business to be low. Although we are conscious that in limited parts of our supply chain e.g. cleaning services, that suppliers in such areas may rely on low paid and low skilled workers. Our procedures are designed to:

   • establish and assess areas of potential risk in our business and supply chains;
   • reduce the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in our business and supply chains; and
   • provide adequate protection for whistleblowers.
7. Effectiveness

   We will undertake an annual review our effectiveness in ensuring that slavery, forced labour or human trafficking are not taking place by:

   • seeking a compliance statement from all current suppliers; especially those where we have identified a potential risk we have mitigated that risk by reminding them of our values and ethical standards and reiterating the expectations we have of them when working with us;
   • ensuring all new suppliers commit to preventing acts of modern slavery and human trafficking from occurring within their businesses; and
   • introducing new colleagues to this anti-slavery and human trafficking statement as part of their training.
8. Training

   We invest in educating our staff to recognise the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our business and supply chains. Our policies and procedures are made available to all staff via the Firm's portal, and the Employee Handbook includes our Code of Conduct which sets out the ethical standards we expect everyone working for the firm to meet.

   Specific training and guidance will be provided for those with procurement responsibilities to assess the human rights and labour performance of suppliers.

9. Confirmation

   This statement is made in accordance with section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes the Firm's modern slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending 31 January 2023.

Arun Srivastava
Partner and Compliance Officer for Legal Practice
July 2023