Modern Slavery Statement

MODERN SLAVERY STATEMENT – 2026/2027

This statement is made on behalf of Burness Paull LLP (“Burness Paull”) pursuant to Section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (the “Act”).

Our firm

Burness Paull is a limited liability partnership registered in Scotland (SO300380) with 91 partners and around 576 employees, spread across our three offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. We are a full-service, independent law firm working with leading organisations across the UK and internationally. We are regulated by the Law Society of Scotland and the Solicitors Regulation Authority in England and Wales. As a law firm, we always work to the highest professional standards and ensure compliance with the laws, regulations and best practice relevant to our business.

Our approach

We are committed to ensuring that modern slavery or any abuse of human rights has no place in our firm or supply chain. The purpose of this statement is to reinforce our commitment to the protection of human rights within our operations during the latest reporting period. This statement sets out the steps we have taken during the period 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 as well as our plans for the coming months to effectively manage the risk of slavery and human trafficking in our business and supply chain. 

We believe in the importance of developing a culture of zero tolerance of forced labour, human trafficking, or any human rights abuse. We do so through our good business practices and policies, including being a Living Wage Employer.

Our commitment is supported by a suite of internal policies and procedures, including:

• Our Modern Slavery Policy which applies to all partners, employees and consultants;
• Our Code of Conduct, which sets out expected standards of ethical and professional behaviour;
• Our Supplier and Procurement risk assessment processes, which require consideration of modern slavery risks when engaging third parties; and 
• Our Whistleblowing arrangements, which enable concerns to be raised confidentially and without fear of retaliation. 

These policies are reviewed regularly to ensure they remain aligned with legislation, guidance and best practice. 

We have chosen to be a member of and endorse the UN Global Compact and to advocate for its principles as a focus of our ESG strategy and commitments. This includes governance related goals where the UN focus is on anti-corruption, peace and the rule of law. This has provided us with a meaningful focus and framework to bring together many of our existing initiatives and it has also given us an opportunity and the ability to consider areas for improvement. ESG considerations, including human rights impacts, remain central to decision-making across the business. 

Our supply chain

As a law firm, we have a relatively simple supply chain, which supports our legal practice and internal operations. As our primary operations are in the United Kingdom, we are compliant with the higher standard of ethical business practice and strong labour regulation within the country. Our suppliers are also mainly based within the UK. Ultimate oversight of supplier relationships sits with the Executive Committee who have overall responsibility for our business services and legal operation functions. Day to day operational oversight of supplier management sits with our newly appointed Compliance and Risk Executive, with support from our Information Security Manager, General Counsel team, Sustainability Manager and Responsible Business Assistant as required. 

Our supply chain can broadly be broken into the following key categories:

• Business Services: including catering, cleaning, travel services and document production and business process services.
• Professional Services: including services provided by auditors, advisors (for example in relation to tax and insurance), consultants and other specialists.
• Facilities: including leases for our offices, services provided by security providers and contractors engaged in relation to fit out works etc. and the purchase of office furniture and equipment.
• Human Resources: including services in relation to recruitment, training, payroll and employee benefits and insurances.
• Technology: including services provided in relation to our systems, software, and equipment.

Based on the type of supplier and the nature of the goods and services we purchase, together with our supplier due diligence processes and reviews, we have assessed the overall risk for Burness Paull contracting with organisations that engage in slavery, forced labour or human trafficking, and consider this to be relatively low.

Our policies and due diligence process

As a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact, we are strongly committed to preventing slavery or human trafficking in any aspect of our business or supply chain. We are confident in our internal policies and apply proportionate and robust standards in the recruitment and employment of our people. 

We conduct due diligence on prospective employees prior to them joining Burness Paull and comply with all employment legislation and regulatory regulations. Burness Paull is an accredited Living Wage employer and we are committed to fair reward through our policies on salary, bonuses, and benefits scheme. This contributes to our assessment of the overall risk of Modern Slavery existing within our own business being low. 

In relation to our supply chain, we undertake a regular review of our business policies and procedures to ensure that the preventive measures we take are appropriate and proportionate to the level of risk our suppliers may pose.

For the current reporting period, our main activities in relation to our supply chain included:

• Engaging with suppliers at the point of onboarding/contract renewal to ensure that appropriate contractual terms are in place to cover compliance with all applicable modern slavery, anti-human trafficking and labour laws. We continue to request that new and existing suppliers sign up to our Supplier Code of Business or maintain materially equivalent standards within their own policies.
• Developing our supplier ESG risk rating framework to incorporate specific modern slavery risk indicators and support a more granular risk-based approach.
  Recruitment of a dedicated Compliance and Risk Executive, part of whose remit will be operational oversight of supplier management and review.
• Appointment of a new Head of Responsible Business. Please see our Responsible Business Report 2025.
• Implementation of a new training portal to deliver regular and targeted compliance training, including on modern slavery.
• Reviewing and refining our enterprise risk and supplier management processes, including enhancements to supplier onboarding and ongoing management, with the assistance and support of our newly appointed compliance and risk executive. 

Our future priorities

Over the next reporting period, in order to further reduce the risk of modern slavery and human trafficking in our supply chain, we are committed to:

• Using our supplier ESG risk-based framework to undertake targeted reviews of any suppliers identified as higher-risk to ensure ongoing compliance with our Supplier Code of Business. 
• Building on our annual training programme for colleagues involved in procurement, focusing on sustainable and ethical procurement practices, with an emphasis on recognising risk indicators and escalating concerns for further investigation.
• Developing clearer measures of effectiveness, such as tracking completion of supplier reviews and follow up actions arising from identified risks.
• Full review of our Supplier Code of Business to ensure that it continues to align with our approach to evolving ESG and human rights expectations and best practice.