Sustainability has long been at the forefront of our thinking, as a firm and as individuals. In 1999, our first sustainability initiative, the green committee, was started. Today, we continue to support a sustainability committee composed of partners, associates and staff members, who establish policy, educate and motivate lawyers and staff to implement sustainable practices and measure those successes.

We apply a sustainability criterion to the purchase of all supplies, equipment, and services. We are currently testing a new electronic file management system in an effort to minimize the use of paper, DVDs, CDs and diskettes in data storage. Minimizing our printing and copying and rethinking our material choices for all communications and marketing materials are also priorities. Wherever possible, we reuse equipment and supplies or donate or recycle them.

Our recycling efforts go beyond just paper: we have removed most disposable items from our lunch rooms and have replaced them with durable products. We even try to clean and reuse the plastic forks we get with take-out. Our lawyers and staff are offered incentives to use mass transit, to carpool, to participate in car-sharing programs and to bicycle.

We are proud to be an Oregon firm, and our commitment to sustainability reflects our respect for the community in which we both live and work. Our lawyers and staff members actively participate in sustainability focused organizations, such as Oregon Lawyers for a Sustainable Future, Recycling Advocates, Oregon Natural Step Network, the Portland Business Alliance Sustainability Committee and PDX Lounge. To effectively advise our clients on sustainability matters we consider it essential to understand the issues and put them into practice in our own lives.