CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Every two years, Brachers chooses a local charity to support with donations of both time and money, with the aim of raising the profile of the charity. Over the past few years, Brachers’ staff have raised over £40,000 for Kent charities, including Macmillan Kent, Heart of Kent Hospice, Headway West Kent, Blackthorn Trust, Demelza House, Spadework, Time for the Homeless, Team Tutsham as well as our 2025-2027 charity of the year Wishing Hearts.

Situated in Maidstone, Wishing Hearts is a small local charity that support the elderly community in the town and immediate surrounding areas. The core objective for the charity is to tackle loneliness within the elderly community, particularly those affected by loss of loved ones, being in care and those suffering with illness that impacts their accessibility. The charity helps fund the little things that can make a big difference to their lives – from bucket list wishes, days out, tea parties and other social gatherings.

We are planning a range of fundraising activities and volunteering initiatives to support Wishing Hearts over the coming year.  Kicking off our support, we’re delighted to share that as a long-standing supporter of the Maidstone Symphony Orchestra, the firm is sponsoring a concert featuring master-violinist Callum Smart on Saturday 22 March at Mote Hall, Maidstone. At the concert we will have the opportunity to raise awareness of and fundraise for the charity, and we look forward to inviting supporters and guests from the charity, along with some of our clients and contacts, to join us.

Alongside our charity of the year, we support a wide variety of charity and community events in the local area. These include:

• sponsor of the Leeds Castle Concerts since 2017
• sponsor of the Kent Charity Awards for the fifth year running (2021 to 2025), and part of the judging panel
• sponsor of the ‘Overall College Lecturer of the Year’ category at the Kent Teacher of the Year Awards 2025
• category sponsor for the Kent Law School Awards.

We have also supported charity fun runs by providing refreshments, helped local food banks by providing publicity materials, attended local schools and career events supporting students, and donated gifts to disadvantaged children in care in the local area.

Our partners also contribute to the Brachers Charitable Trust, which has contributed to more than 100 charities since 1990. Many of our lawyers also volunteer their free time to charities across the South East, on boards as trustees and through pro bono work.

Playing an active role in the local business community is essential to us and we recognise our role to help support economic growth in our region. We consider ourselves to be a valued member of local business community groups, committed to making a positive impact to business growth. The business schemes and events we support include:

• founding Corporate Partner for Visit Kent since October 2016
• corporate Partner of Locate in Kent
• member of One Maidstone since January 2017
• Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce Patron since February 2017
• member of the East Kent Economic Development Group since it was established in 2015
• sponsor of the CLA Kent Debate since 2017
• sponsor of Farm Expo

We are passionate about supporting our clients, employees and community in any way we can, and for this reason are proud supporters of the Dementia Friends campaign, championed by Mary Rimmer – a Partner in Brachers’ Private Client team.

Dementia is an umbrella term describing a range of progressive neurological diseases of the brain, of which Alzheimer’s Disease is the most common, contributing to 60-70% of cases. Contrary to popular belief, it is not a disease of the elderly and it affects younger people too. There are over 100 types of dementia; each with its own progression rate and each person experiences dementia in their own unique way.

Dementia Friends is a social action movement, launched in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2013, which sees individuals being trained by the Alzheimer’s Society to become a Dementia Friend Champion. Champions hold information sessions focusing on the personal impact of dementia, spreading awareness and creating Dementia Friends.

Mary first undertook the training to become a Dementia Friend Champion in January 2019 and regularly hosts Dementia Friends sessions for her colleagues, contacts and local community. She is part of the Tunbridge Wells Dementia Friendly Community (DFC) and the Building a Dementia Friendly Maidstone group, which encourage as many local people, professionals, carers, people with dementia and anyone with an interest in dementia, to work together in the aim to make the district Dementia Friendly. The groups meet regularly to discuss issues, share good practice and work towards agreed actions and priorities in order to improve the lives of people living with dementia locally.

Mary has recently been congratulated by the Alzheimer’s Society for hitting the 1k Dementia Friends milestone, having created 1,005 friends within a year.

What’s more, Brachers is pleased to have earned a ‘Working To Become a Dementia Friendly Kent Organisation’ badge and is proud that nearly 75% of staff have become Dementia Friends.

Partner and head of the firm’s Elderly and Vulnerable team, Mary Rimmer, triumphed at the Kent Law Society Awards 2022, winning the ‘Contribution to the Community Award’. The firm was further shortlisted for one firmwide and two individual categories.

Brachers, for the third consecutive year, was shortlisted in the ‘Best community programme’ category at the Managing Partners’ Forum Awards 2022. Our submission focussed on the firm’s Community Relations Committee’s work supporting Time for the Homeless.

We were pleased to be shortlisted for the Dementia Friendly Kent Awards 2023 in the ‘Dementia Friendly Organisation’ category.

Brachers took second place for ‘Best sustaining culture’ at the International Management Excellence Awards 2023

Since opening our office in Canterbury in 2020, we are now proud to support another local rugby team as corporate sponsors of Canterbury Rugby Club .

Canterbury Rugby Club, who play in National League 2 South, usually has a busy schedule of league and international matches, with adult, youth and wheelchair teams playing at the club.

Giles Hilton, Chairman of Canterbury Rugby Club, said: “Canterbury Rugby Club are delighted to welcome Brachers to the family of sponsors and supporters of CRFC. In these difficult times, support is very welcome to ensure the future of a great rugby club.”

We’re proud to sponsor Kent Women’s Cricket, supporting gender equality in sport and strengthening community ties across Canterbury.

We are also sponsors of Castle Colts Wanderers U9 for 24/25 season, which is committed to promoting and providing footballing opportunities for Boys and Girls from the age of 5 to 18 in a club run by the Allington community. In addition, we are delighted to support Hernhill Herons Football Club, a thriving grassroots club that promotes inclusive footballing opportunities for players of all ages and abilities in the heart of the local community.

We are also proud to support a talented young karting athlete, helping Aiden pursue his journey through competitive motorsport and develop his skills as he progresses through the ranks.

As a firm we recognise our responsibility to take a sustainable approach in our day-to-day operations and minimise the impact of our business on the environment.

We have taken, and continue to take, steps to incorporate environmental good practice across all areas of the business, underpinned by our Environmental Policy. This includes, but is not limited to:

• managing waste responsibly and reducing carbon emissions
• taking steps towards a paperless office
• encouraging remote working and providing access to video conferencing to minimise business travel
• as an example, in 2022 to 2023 we recycled 10,780 tonnes of waste, 100% of our cardboard was recycled and 100% of our general waste avoided landfill, being used as refuse-derived fuel through the energy-from-waste process.

As a result of our efforts, we have achieved ISO14001, which sets environmental management system quality standards.