In Conversation with…
Alexander Rhodes
Alexander Rhodes trained as a conservationist, working in East Africa, before turning his hand to the law and joining Mishcon de Reya 17 years ago. A partner in the firm, he now heads the initiative Mishcon Purpose. As such, he believes the law has an important role to play in the transition to sustainability. But he also believes that, as a profession, we have yet to make the case for the contribution we can make.
In Conversation with…
Alexander Rhodes
Alexander Rhodes trained as a conservationist, working in East Africa, before turning his hand to the law and joining Mishcon de Reya 17 years ago. A partner in the firm, he now heads the initiative Mishcon Purpose. As such, he believes the law has an important role to play in the transition to sustainability. But he also believes that, as a profession, we have yet to make the case for the contribution we can make.
Your title is Head of Mishcon Purpose. Can you tell us a little about the framework of that role?
Mishcon Purpose is a specialist sustainability business integrating lawyers and environmental, social and governance (ESG) experts. We established it for two reasons. First, we recognised the most powerful way for us to have a positive impact on society and the environment is through our advice by working with our clients. And, secondly, because our clients were asking for help.
I’m very fortunate to have the opportunity to lead this initiative. We have an amazing team of passionate and dedicated people, and every day we work with clients looking to understand what changing expectations mean for their affairs and advising them how best to make changes in a way that aligns the creation of business, environmental and social value.
You’ve been with Mishcon for 17 years and clearly seen a lot of change. It seems law firms are in many ways pioneering the social value message and, crucially, backing it up with tangibles. Where are we on this all-important aspect of business?
I was lucky to train with Mishcon. I started life as a conservationist, working with communities and protected areas in East Africa. If I’d joined another firm, I think it is likely that I would have stuck with Plan A and gone back into conservation full time.
For as long as I’ve known it, Mishcon has been built on a strong and actively used set of core values. These underpin an open and innovative culture and inform our purpose. The firm has grown hugely during this time, and it’s changed, but those core values have not.
In 2020, as a partnership, we resolved to incorporate a commitment to having a positive impact on society and the environment in the way we run our business. This was an important step and enabled us to incorporate our commitment into the firm’s constitution.
As a sector, the law has such an important role to play in the transition to sustainability, both as a powerful tool, but also as a foundational part of the economic, political and social systems that need urgent reform. My personal view is that, as a profession, we are way behind where we need to be.
There are some strong leaders in the sector, and a number of important and growing initiatives looking to support lawyers in their work. However, there is much to do. We believe the law can be transformative, not only in accelerating the journey to sustainability, but in ensuring that the transition is just, and that it aligns value creation through all dimensions.
We’re aiming to foster this conversation through a series we’ve just started called “The Role of Law in Driving Sustainability.”
Every business is being judged by ever-high standards and rightly so. Are there aspects of the changes we’ve seen so far that especially excite you?
We are seeing business, and, in particular, international business moving towards a self-regulatory approach to ESG. Legislators and regulators are moving fast by reference to their usual standards, but this is nowhere near fast enough to keep pace with the changing expectations that investors, customers, employees and society at large have of business.
The purpose of business was elegantly reframed by the British Academy in 2018, as "the purpose of business is to solve the problems of people and planet profitably, and not profit from causing problems ". This reflects the growing materiality of social and environmental issues to business – both in terms of the impact that business has, and on its dependencies on the social contract and environmental services.
Businesses at the front of the curve are now taking a leadership position in shaping new standards, and this is hugely exciting. The three horsemen of the crisis: climate, biodiversity and inequality, demand a fast, global response. Purpose-led international business, working with civil society and government, is probably our most powerful agent for reform.
“As a sector, the law has such an important role to play in the transition to sustainability, both as a powerful tool, but also as a foundational part of the economic, political and social systems that need urgent reform. My personal view is that, as a profession, we are way behind where we need to be.”
I get a sense that there might be a feeling of fatigue amongst people when it comes to issues such as ESG, social value, climate change. I think we all know these are vitally important issues in business, but do you think we almost need to look at how we frame these discussions, so they simply don’t appear to be another box-ticking exercise? Do we need to be more “creative”?
I don't think we need to be more creative. I think we need to be more human. It is difficult to find reasonable people who think it is acceptable to destroy global biodiversity, or risk climate change driven tipping points, or exploit the vulnerable. Yet these are the consequences of just operating within the legal, regulatory and cultural frameworks we have developed to run our businesses and economies.
John Maynard Keynes put his finger on it when he observed "The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones". Today's imperatives require we change the way we do things, to reflect the things we now understand to be true. That stands true for each of us in the choices we make in our day-to-day lives, as it does for the reform needed to our Companies Act and accounting rules.
In business, people tend to take one of two approaches to “sustainability”. The first is a compliance-led route, based on a fixed mindset that business value hasn’t changed and that all this ESG stuff is an inconvenient additional hurdle to deal with. The second is a purpose-led approach, which recognises business value continues to evolve with our expectations, and that the opportunity to grow is underpinned by adopting a wider approach to value creation in which business and social value creation are aligned.
Not to be critical of any sector of the workforce but do you see a difference in how younger employees view a firm’s social value credentials?
Younger people tend to see more clearly the challenges we face, unencumbered by the dogma of the systems we have inherited.
And what can we learn from each other as surely one of the great challenges is to take an entire workforce on this journey?
Change is always a challenge. Without a clear corporate purpose, a finance director tasked simultaneously with increasing profitability and halving the businesses carbon footprint risks finding themselves chasing two different targets.
This non-alignment of financial and non-financial objectives is a real challenge for business leaders. If the board is incentivised by a business's financial performance, with no reference to improving its performance to equality, diversity or inclusion, it is not surprising progress towards this increasingly material driver of corporate culture isn’t as fast as it otherwise could be. Businesses that fail to align individual and corporate incentives to deliver on change will struggle to keep up.
You certainly put your money where your mouth is and hold a number of interesting trustee roles. It’s hard for any busy professional to take on even more but how have you found those experiences of volunteering and what would say to others who’d like to do such work?
I have been very lucky in my career to have been able to follow what is important to me. I had an opportunity when I left university to go and work in arid, vulnerable environments where local people had developed cultures that enabled them to live successfully alongside the land and wildlife. That relatively short experience had a great impression on me, and I have always believed spending time doing what matters to you is where you are most open to new thinking and able to learn new things.
I'm lucky now to be able to spend my whole focus at Mishcon working with brilliant colleagues, partners and clients, using the law to grow social and environmental value through business, philanthropy and litigation.
This is all surely dependent on enlightened employers, isn’t it? Businesses that will support staff who wish to take on voluntary roles and not just pay lip service to the idea.
In a word – and put simply – “yes”.
Are there any examples of social value projects, either from within Mishcon or beyond, you view as especially good practice?
There is no shortage of ESG frameworks, standards and commitments out there. For business, that is part of the challenge. We are seeing consolidation between some initiatives, but this will take time. In our view, the most important decision is the point of departure: have you properly thought through why you exist and your relevance to those around you. Purpose is the founding block of any serious corporate governance code, because it empowers boards and leaders to consider the interrelationship between business, social and environmental value, identify what aspects of the ESG soup are material to them, and to incorporate the best practices they need to deliver on their promise.
There’s no doubt, despite what some say, that Covid has changed our world. Aside from ever-enquiring clients what do you feel are the biggest dangers facing businesses who don’t demonstrate their social value?
Today, business value is intangible value. An increasing part of that is made up of the impacts and dependencies on society and the environment. Those who fail to recognise this, and don’t change their business practices to incorporate stakeholders and their expectations, will struggle to protect and grow their relevance, profitability and market share.
And, finally, what gives you cause to be optimistic?
That nature has an endless capacity for reinvention. And we are part of that.
Snap Shot
2020
Head of Mishcon Purpose Mishcon de Reya
2020
Chairman Tusk 2019
Advisory Board Democracy & Culture Foundation
2018 Trustee Elephant Protection Initiative
2014 – 2018
Chief Executive Stop Ivory
2006 Solicitor Mishcon de Reya
Getting to Know You
Best bit of advice you’ve been given?
You have two ears and one mouth: apply them in that ratio. Best bit of advice you’d give someone at the start of their career?
Follow your heart.
What led you to this career?
I'm still finding out Best holiday destination?
The estuaries of north Norfolk Favourite pastime?
Family