Modern Slavery Act
Modern Slavery Act 2015: Transparency in Supply Chains Statement 2022
Introduction
Mourant is a leading international law firm and a provider of governance, regulatory and compliance consulting services. We strive for excellence and the highest standards of professionalism, ethics and integrity in every aspect of our business. We are committed to combating slavery and human trafficking and to engaging with our suppliers to ensure that they do not engage in slavery or human trafficking or any activity which would be associated with these practices.
This statement is published pursuant to Section 54 of the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 (the 'Act') on behalf of Mourant and its affiliated business, Mourant Governance Services for the financial year beginning 1 February 2021 and the first half of the financial year beginning 1 February 2022.
Organisational Structure and Business
Mourant Ozannes is an international law firm with expertise in British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Guernsey and Jersey law. We have offices in these jurisdictions as well as London, Hong Kong and Mauritius. Through our affiliated business, Mourant Governance Services, we deliver a complementary range of fiduciary, administration and governance services. We also offer a regulatory and compliance consulting service through Mourant Consulting Limited. Mourant is committed to Diversity and Inclusion and has set out targets and a program milestones.
Commitment to Supply Chain that is free from Modern Slavery or Human Trafficking
As a professional services firm, we view the risk of modern slavery within our business to be low and our supply chain to be straightforward. Nevertheless, we are committed to ensuring that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chain or any part of our business.
As a professional services business, we comply with all relevant laws and regulations. We have firm wide policies and procedures in place to mitigate the risk of our business being exposed to money laundering, terrorist financing, tax evasion, bribery and corruption. We also have policies and procedures in place to ensure that the culture within Mourant is one of lawful and ethical behaviour, openness, trust and integrity.
We have a Code of Business Conduct published on our website which sets out our commitment to upholding the highest standards of professionalism, including combatting modern slavery.
As part of our commitment to identify and mitigate any risk of modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chain, we have introduced policies to assess our new and existing key suppliers regarding to their adherence to principles of good governance, fair employment and sub-supplier practises. We also require our key suppliers to comply with the Act, our Code of Business Conduct, as well as all other relevant laws concerning the fair treatment of employees through our contractual arrangements and communication of our Code of Business Conduct. Many of our suppliers who support our premises such as cleaning, catering, contractors, security, IT suppliers and recruitment agencies are long-term relationships with contract renewal points to reassess our terms from time to time. We continue to keep our policies and procedures under review with the aim of further driving best practice amongst our suppliers.
Training
Procurement of key suppliers is managed through a transparent and clear protocol with strong oversight in place. We provide periodic mandatory training to our key staff so they are able to understand the requirements of the Act and how to identify risks to ensure that our business operations are at all times conducted in accordance with the policies set out in this statement.
Signed by Keith Pearse, Partner of Mourant LP on 11 October 2022.
