Second Place
Stikeman Elliott LLP — First national Canadian law firm to become carbon neutral

Stikeman Elliott becoming the first major Canadian law firm to neutralize its carbon footprint was a bold commitment that the firm believed would inspire Torontonians and Canadians in the legal and business communities to make a commitment to environmental sustainability. The firm’s environmental goal was to raise the bar for environmental initiatives and to develop a comprehensive sustainability program called the GoingGreen program.

The Carbon Neutral Certification was a new step for Stikeman Elliott; the firm invested significant resources to calculate each office’s carbon footprint. Working closely with The Carbon Neutral Company, the offset projects were selected. A second footprint will be done in 2010 to accurately equate our ROI.

"Stikeman Elliott becomes the first national Canadian law firm to be designated carbon neutral" was the announcement's main message. An electronic media package containing a press release and fact sheets on the Carbon Neutral and GoingGreen programs were distributed via e-mail to the media and the press release posted on Canada's News Wire the first week of April 2009. Internally, a desk drop of a tree-in-a-box was given to every firm member. The firm also distributed an internal e-mail, posting on the intranet and a visual display of empty boxes representing the amount of reduced paper waste was placed at reception.

The firm’s marketing group played a key role in developing the materials and the production was completed in-house. Purposely leveraging the branding of the GoingGreen program, the clean illustrations of green leaves and blue sky married with informative copy and the carbon neutral certification logo made this announcement a first of its kind among Canadian law firms. The design of the announcement is compatible for electronic viewing both in recognition of Stikeman Elliott's environmental efforts and to promote accessibility to a wider audience.

Summary of Outcomes

The carbon neutral certification garnered media attention and attention from other law firms and businesses. The carbon neutral certification reinforces Stikeman Elliott's commitment to taking the right steps, implementing the right programs and creating the right culture to encourage corporate social responsibility. The firm's leadership stance extends to work we do to motivate our employees, suppliers and clients through the formalized efforts of the GoingGreen program, and with the carbon neutral certification, Stikeman Elliott’s commitment to environmental stewardship has set a shining green example for corporate Toronto and all of Canada.

Third Place
Steptoe & Johnson PLLC with Greenfield/Belser, Ltd. — New CEO Announcement

Steptoe & Johnson PLLC was eager to announce the hiring of their new CEO, Susan Brewer. They wanted to not only announce the fact that they were electing a new CEO, they wanted to highlight the fact that she is a woman and use it as an opportunity to address misconceptions surrounding West Virginia and the firm. The firm had a clearly defined target market for this announcement.

As part of the preliminary research, the firm performed partner interviews, a collection and analysis of internal metrics, a competitive audit and a communications audit.

The firm utilized the fact that only 2% of Fortune 500 companies have female CEOs in order to position themselves as cutting-edge, while announcing Brewer’s position within the firm. The announcement was written in a smart, modern and sophisticated way. Brewer’s arrival was announced with class and wit and used statistics to back up the messaging. The announcement marked the change in leadership with a change in tone and look, attracting positive attention and comments from unexpected sources — many of them male.

Summary of Outcomes

The CEO received enthusiastic comments from across the nation and internal clients were proud to be associated with such a unique and powerful leader.

Honorable Mention
Wolf Greenfield — 2008 and 2009 holiday cards

Since 1999, Wolf Greenfield has created customized holiday cards to send to clients, prospects and other contacts. The objective each year is to create something recipients will find memorable and unique, which they look forward to receiving and will want to keep around, look at again and show others.

The firm considered implementing an electronic card, but they felt that it was important to continue the tradition of sending personally signed cards as a way for attorneys to build relationships. A subcommittee of attorneys and staff researched several concepts and proposed a card of magnetic words which can be rearranged into sentences. The subcommittee developed the list of words related to the firms practice areas and IP in general.

The firm mailed over 4,500 cards which were all personally signed by firm professionals. The envelope was printed with a fake “post-it” note announcing the card.

Summary of Outcomes

The firm received over 60 e-mails from recipients complimenting the cards, comments include:
“Once again, Wolf Greenfield wins the award for the most creative and entertaining holiday card of the season!”
“We just received the holiday card and it is AWESOME! So very creative! The staff here are pondering all the creative messages we could arrange on the fridge”

The responses included questions regarding future work and they received local and national recognition through mentions in the media.