2026 Slavery and human trafficking statement

For the financial year ending 31 March 2026

Introduction 

This statement has been published in accordance with the requirements of section 54(1) Modern Slavery Act 2015 (the Act). It sets out the steps taken by Browne Jacobson LLP during the financial year ended 31 March 2026 to prevent modern slavery and human trafficking, collectively referred to as “modern slavery”, from occurring in our business or supply chains, and to demonstrate how we continue to strengthen the effectiveness of those steps year on year. 

Organisational structure, business and supply chains as of 31 March 2026

Browne Jacobson is a UK and Ireland based law firm providing legal and other services to clients across the public and private sectors. Browne Jacobson is the brand name under which Browne Jacobson LLP and Browne Jacobson Ireland LLP operate. 

Browne Jacobson LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales (registered number OC306448). We are owned by our 125 members. 

Browne Jacobson Ireland LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in Ireland, regulated by the Law Society of Ireland and authorised by the Legal Services Regulatory Authority to operate as a limited liability partnership. A list of its partners is available at its principal place of business at 2 Hume Street, Dublin 2, D02 FT82.

Our head office is based in Nottingham, with offices in Birmingham, Cardiff, Exeter, Manchester and London. We currently have 1,345 employees, which includes 194 partners. 

Our turnover for the financial year ended 31 March 2026 was £148.8m.

Our supply chains

Our supply chains support both the operation of our business and the delivery of services to our clients. These include the procurement of goods and services across the following categories:

• IT – hardware, software and infrastructure, including hosting services.
• Employee benefits.
• Telecommunications.
• Building and facilities management, including catering, cleaning, security and other facilities services.
• Business support services including document production and storage.
• Recruitment agencies.
• Professional services, including external barristers, expert witnesses, medical professionals and other consultants or agencies.
• Business travel.

Most of our suppliers are UK based. Our supply chains, and our overall assessment of modern slavery risk within them, remain unchanged from the previous reporting period. We continue to focus our due diligence and risk assessment activity on higher risk categories (building services, catering), particularly where services may involve vulnerable workers. This includes both direct (tier 1) and, where possible, indirect suppliers. 

Policies in relation to Modern Slavery

Our approach continues to be underpinned by a suite of internal policies, including our Anti Modern Slavery Policy, Sustainable Procurement Policy, Whistleblowing Policy and Supplier Due Diligence Policy. These policies remain available to our people via our intranet and are aligned with relevant international standards, including the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. We endeavour to review our policies biennially, or more frequently where circumstances necessitate an earlier assessment. 

Due diligence processes

We continue to adopt a proportionate, risk based approach to supplier due diligence, focusing enhanced scrutiny on suppliers operating in higher risk sectors or jurisdictions. Due diligence was completed for a total of 91 suppliers in 2025/26.

We reviewed supplier due diligence responses, with any identified risks escalated to the relevant director, head of department or partner through a due diligence summary. During the reporting period, the risk of modern slavery within our supply chain remained low, and no suppliers disclosed any instances of modern slavery within their operations or wider supply chains.

Our work to refine our supplier due diligence process has continued and our Risk & Compliance and Procurement teams have worked collaboratively to refine our approach to include chargeable suppliers associated with client work, such as external barristers, expert witnesses and third party agents. In doing so, we recognised the complexity of these supplier relationships and the need to balance effective modern slavery risk controls with the practical delivery of client services. This work included reviewing how risk indicators are applied to these supplier categories, clarifying expectations around ethical standards and transparency, and strengthening internal guidance to promote consistency in how due diligence requirements are triggered, applied and documented.

We remain committed to conducting our business ethically and responsibly. We will continue to monitor, assess and respond to modern slavery risks across our operations and supply chains, taking appropriate action where concerns are identified.

Our Supplier Code of Conduct forms an important part of our supplier governance framework and sets clear expectations on labour standards, human rights, equality and inclusion, health and safety, environmental responsibility, and ethical business practices. In addition to requiring compliance with the Act, the Code requires suppliers to prohibit forced, bonded and child labour, respect workers’ rights and dignity, provide fair pay and working conditions, support freedom of association, and maintain appropriate measures to prevent bribery, corruption and other unethical practices. The Code also reflects our commitment as an accredited Living Wage employer, requiring suppliers to confirm that they either hold Living Wage accreditation or pay a Living Wage. We communicate these expectations through our supplier onboarding and due diligence processes and expect suppliers to promote equivalent standards throughout their own supply chains

Where modern slavery concerns are identified, we reserve the right to terminate supplier relationships where appropriate. However, wherever possible, we will seek to work constructively with suppliers and affected parties to support effective remediation and address the underlying causes of any identified issues.

Risk assessment and management 

Our Risk and Compliance team provided an annual report to both our Risk and Compliance Committee and Executive Committee. This report evaluates the risk of modern slavery within our business and its supply chains, detailing the actions taken and proposing recommendations for the upcoming financial year to enhance transparency and awareness. 

Modern slavery continues to be assessed as a low inherent risk to our business. Proportionate controls remain in place to identify, assess and mitigate potential risks within our operations and supply chains, particularly where services involve vulnerable workers or higher risk sectors.

We also support our clients' supplier due diligence and responsible procurement requirements where appropriate, providing information on the measures we take to identify, assess and mitigate modern slavery risks within our own operations and supply chains. In developing and maintaining our approach, we engage with colleagues across the firm, suppliers, clients, industry bodies and other external stakeholders to better understand emerging risks, evolving best practice and changing regulatory expectations. This helps ensure our controls remain proportionate, effective and aligned with our commitment to ethical and responsible business practices.

Training on Modern Slavery 

All our people had access to the policies, guidance and reporting mechanisms relevant to their roles, helping to promote awareness of ethical responsibilities and the importance of raising concerns at an early stage.

In our previous statement, we indicated that we intended to deliver a modern slavery awareness campaign around national Anti-Slavery Day in October 2025. To maximise engagement and relevance, we instead delivered a firm-wide awareness campaign timed to coincide with the publication of the Home Office’s latest modern slavery statistics, providing our people with up-to-date insights and guidance on modern slavery risks and indicators.

This campaign focused on using the latest government statistics to remind our people that sadly, modern slavery often hides in plain sight – not only within business and supply chain contexts, but also within our wider communities. We aimed to improve understanding of how to spot modern slavery in practice, why it continues to present a risk within the UK, and how concerns may be identified and escalated, whether through internal channels or to external authorities. It reinforced our expectations around responsible behaviour, reporting mechanisms and the shared role our people play in upholding our values and ethical standards.

We will continue to take a risk-based approach to raising awareness of modern slavery across the firm and will keep our training and awareness activities under regular review, to respond to emerging risks, changes in our operations or supply chains, evolving legal and regulatory expectations, and lessons learned through our ongoing risk assessment and due diligence activities.

Monitoring, evaluation, and effectiveness

We continue to monitor the effectiveness of our anti modern slavery controls through supplier due diligence activity, internal reviews and reporting to senior management.

During the 2025/26 financial year, 25 suppliers triggered enhanced due diligence.  As reported in our previous statement, we broadened the scope of our enhanced due diligence process, meaning that all suppliers meeting the enhanced threshold are required to provide additional modern slavery information regardless of the basis on which enhanced due diligence was triggered. Of the 25 suppliers subject to enhanced due diligence during the reporting period, only one was triggered by an elevated modern slavery risk indicator. This was related to the nature of the services (event catering services to one of our offices). Having reviewed the responses provided, we were satisfied that no further investigation was required. The remaining 24 suppliers, while not presenting any specific modern slavery risk indictors, nonetheless provided additional modern slavery information in accordance with our broadened requirements. All responses were reviewed, and no concerns were identified.

We assess the effectiveness of our approach by reviewing the results of our supplier due diligence activities and considering whether any modern slavery concerns have been identified that require further investigation, remediation or escalation. During the reporting period, no suppliers were identified as requiring remediation or escalation in relation to modern slavery risks, and our due diligence activities did not identify any concerns requiring further action. While the absence of identified concerns does not eliminate the risk of modern slavery, these outcomes provide assurance that our controls are operating as intended and support our assessment that modern slavery risk within our business and supply chain remains low.

During the year, we reviewed our Supplier Code of Conduct and concluded that it remains appropriate and effective in supporting our approach to managing modern slavery risks within our supply chain. As a result, no substantive changes were considered necessary. We will review our Code annually, alongside our wider supplier due diligence arrangements, to ensure they remain proportionate and effective. We also remain committed to raising awareness of modern slavery risks across the firm and will continue to explore opportunities to enhance understanding, monitor emerging risks, and strengthen our approach where appropriate.

Board approval 

We have agreed management responsibility for this statement and our executive committee has approved and fully supports these initiatives. This statement will be published on our website to promote transparency and accountability.

Signed by: 

Richard Medd, Managing Partner, Designated Member Browne Jacobson LLP 

Date: 4 August 2026