Wallbrook Receives B Corp Certification
Wallbrook has become the first global due diligence and investigations firm to receive B Corp certification from leading global sustainability non-profit B Lab.
Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.
B Lab, the not-for-profit behind the B Corp movement, sets rigorous social and environmental standards by which it measures a firm’s commitment to goals outside of shareholder profit. The B Corp certification addresses the entirety of a business’ operations and covers five key impact areas of Governance, Workers, Community, Environment and Customers.
A global first for our sector
Wallbrook is the first and only global company in our sector to be certified as a B Corp. The firm is entirely employee owned and our shareholding structure - approximately 60% of our staff own stock or options in our business - was a key factor in being certified. Equally important was the type of clients Wallbrook work for, and the sectors they operate in. Wallbrook’s environmental and social policies, which were authored by members of our staff with ESG policy consulting expertise, were reviewed as a component of our certification and unambiguously prohibit the firm from engaging in the type of unethical or disreputable behaviour in pursuit of profits that has plagued other firms in our sector.
“B Corp recognition further demonstrates sustainability and impact are at the very heart of our firm’s values and our goals of helping organisations make ethical, informed and compliant decisions about who they acquire or engage with. We feel a huge sense of achievement having completed the rigorous assessment process and vindicated in our belief that a firm must benefit all of our stakeholders if it is to be sustainable and successful”, said James Hunt, London-based Managing Partner at Wallbrook.
Jake Lipton, a Wallbrook Partner in New York, added that “we operate in a sector which has historically had a reputation for having its share of bad actors and companies that have faced ethical and legal challenges. We strive to continually raise both standards and the expectations our employees and clients have of us and we very much hope that other firms in our sector will join us in the B Corp movement”.
Chris Turner, Executive Director of B Lab in the UK, commented: “B Lab is delighted to certify Wallbrook as a B Corp. Business is a powerful force, and one that must be used for good. Welcoming Wallbrook is an exciting moment because they have the chance to lead the way within the investigations industry. We and the rest of the B Corp community are really pleased to support Wallbrook in paving the way for a new way of doing things”.