Hogan Lovells Appoints Dr Marion Palmer as Its New Head of Global Sustainability, Policy and Strategy

Global law firm Hogan Lovells today announced that Dr Marion Palmer will assume the role of Head of Global Sustainability, Policy and Strategy, strengthening the firm’s commitment to embedding sustainability strategies across all of its operations.

In her new role, Dr Palmer will continue to closely collaborate with Adrian Walker, Global Head of ESG at Hogan Lovells. Adrian said “I’m really delighted with Marion’s appointment. Our ESG practice is dedicated to providing world-class support for our clients, helping them to use the law to build a better world and deliver on their ESG commitments. In harmony with this, it is critical that we deliver on our own sustainability challenges as a business and Marion’s unique skills are central to this.Pl”

Michael Davison, Deputy CEO of Hogan Lovells, said: “Marion has a long track record of advising on policy and strategy, with a focus on sustainability policies—all of which makes her an ideal person to ensure that the firm keeps moving forward with our ambitious sustainability agenda.”

Dr Palmer has spent over 20 years working with lawyers on scientific matters relevant to the firm’s legal practices. She is a founder member of the Hogan Lovells’ Science Unit, which was formed to streamline the acquisition and processing of scientific evidence, resulting in a more precise and economical service for clients. A particular focus of her work relates to sustainability and climate change. As Hogan Lovells Senior Advisor on Sustainability Policy and Strategy, she has advised on the firm’s own sustainability strategy and Net Zero plans. Her client work has also involved evaluation of sustainability policies and environmental claims, including target setting, data collection and methodology verification in relation to carbon emissions and wider sustainability metrics. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge.

As part of its focus on sustainability, Hogan Lovells is a signatory to the UN Business Ambition for 1.5°C and Race to Zero, which commit the firm to developing and implementing Science Based Targets to reduce its carbon emissions and become net zero. The firm has set greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets in line with these commitments. Hogan Lovells is also a founder member of the Legal Sustainability Alliance and the Net Zero Lawyers Alliance.

“I am very excited about this new opportunity, which will allow me to combine the strategy and policy role with a role co-ordinating the efforts by all those in the firm working towards our sustainability goals,” commented Dr Palmer. “The firm has made great progress in the last few years, which includes establishing our baseline, setting emissions reductions targets and implementing changes to reduce emissions. “

In 2022, Hogan Lovells set targets of:

a near-term target for Scope 1 and 2 (market) emissions of a 90% reduction by 2030 against a 2019 baseline
a near-term target for Scope 3 emissions is for 75% of our suppliers (by emissions) to have set an emissions reduction target consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees
A Net Zero target for all three scopes by 2050

As part of an innovative drive to embed sustainability throughout the firm Hogan Lovells is also building a sustainability committee in every office that will be responsible for driving initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions locally and to identify and take forward other sustainability goals.

Dr Palmer added: “I am looking forward to working on our targets as we continue to improve how our firm operates sustainably and in so doing, contributes to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”