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Clifford Chance
Professional standards, ethics & risk<br />

Professional standards, ethics & risk

Building trust and confidence

The way we do business is driven by our values-based global Code, and the implementation of our related policies contributes to Clifford Chance's leading reputation.

The Doing Business pillar of our responsible business approach prioritises ethics, professional standards, and risk management, including regulatory compliance and business continuity to ensure the sustainability and resilience of our operations.

Adopting technology safely and securely is essential for the firm and our clients. We ensure our use of AI is responsible and aligned with our values, and that our people have the skills to adopt technology effectively and competently.

 We continue to build our expertise in advising clients on legal and regulatory issues related to emerging technologies, including questions on the use of generative AI.

 Our Enterprise Risk Management Framework, Information Governance and Data Privacy Frameworks, and Operational Resilience strategy are embedded globally. They include robust processes to manage technology and data securely.

 Our Net Zero Delivery Group and Risk function work together to further the firm's understanding of the likely impacts of climate-related risks and opportunities on our business.

We continue to develop our approaches to climate change and human rights with our Responsible Business Board, in consultation with relevant stakeholders in the firm. This includes the integration of our Climate Change Policy into matter acceptance processes and further developing our approach to assessing the human rights impacts of the work we do.

Responsible Business Report 2025

During the financial year ended 30 April 2025 (FY25) we focused on strengthening our capabilities to remain adaptable and resilient – guided by the needs of our clients, our people and the long-term sustainability of our firm. 

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203 workshops

run on the firm’s values-based global Code, led by the Chair of the Responsible Business Board, since it's introduction in FY21, attended by 3,738 people in the firm

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Secure AI adoption

for all roles across the firm, our use is guided by our AI Principles and Policy framework, technology skills are supported by a compulsory elearning module on the AI Principles

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Integrated climate change risk

into our Enterprise Risk Management framework – the updated risk matrix can be found in our FY24 Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure

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Case studies

AI-adoption

AI adoption

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming legal services and the wider services industry. As a global law firm, we are committed to maintain the highest professional standards around our use of AI, that protects our clients, adheres to the law, and enhances the quality of our legal services to our clients.

Find out more about AI adoption
climate-risk

Climate Risk

Our Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) framework is designed to identify key risks affecting our business and address their likelihood, their impact and how quickly they may materialise. During FY24, we integrated climate change risk into our risk framework with greater specificity than before.

Find out more about Climate Risk

Our insights

The latest points of view from our people on our responsible business activities

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Related information

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