Steptoe & Johnson LLP, which is celebrating its 30th year in Phoenix, has been certified by the city of Phoenix as a Phoenix Green Business Leader, becoming one of the first law firms in the city to be designated with this title. The Phoenix Green Business Leader program recognizes and promotes businesses that volunteer to operate in a more environmentally responsible manner through waste diversion.

As a part of the Phoenix Green Business Leader program, Steptoe has committed to:

  • Supply the office with color-coded, labeled recycle bins in convenient locations that are paired with landfill bins.
  • Subscribe to adequate recycling and landfill hauling service.
  • Receive annual education and training from the Zero Waste Team to all tenants, employees, contractors and custodial staff.
  • Have Reimagine Phoenix promotional materials on hand and provide basic education about the Reimagine Phoenix initiative to employees and customers.
  • Provide the city with quarterly diversion rates.

After one year, Steptoe will be recognized at a special event with the Phoenix mayor and city council members, and will receive a Phoenix Green Business Leader plaque to distinguish the firm’s commitment toward recycling and sustainability. In addition, Steptoe is eligible to receive zero waste education and awareness training, and tours of the city of Phoenix recycling facilities. A group of lawyers and staff from Steptoe’s Phoenix office toured a city recycling facility on July 6.

Steptoe’s Kami Galvani, who serves as head of the community services committee for the firm’s Phoenix office, said: “The community services committee has implemented some innovative programs at the Phoenix office over the past few years that promote waste diversion in the office and in the homes of our attorneys and staff members. I am extremely grateful that our partners have encouraged and supported our efforts. I am thrilled that our hard work to encourage the reuse and recycling of items that would otherwise go to the landfill is being recognized by the city of Phoenix.”

Reimagine Phoenix provides the framework to achieve the city’s goal to divert 40 percent of trash from its landfills by 2020 and to achieve zero waste by the year 2050. The Phoenix Public Works Department provides various solid waste programs to divert and capture as many materials as possible to be reused, repurposed or recycled.

Paul Charlton, managing partner of Steptoe’s Phoenix office and the former US attorney for the District of Arizona, said: “The more we recycle, the less garbage winds up in our landfills and incineration plants. By reusing paper, glass, plastics and other materials, we can save production and energy costs, and reduce the harmful impacts that the extraction and processing of virgin materials has on the environment.”

Firm-wide, Steptoe has taken many steps to improve environmental performance. For example, the firm’s many copiers are programmed to produce double-sided copies. Styrofoam cups and plates in kitchens and the headquarters’ in-house cafe have been replaced with cups and containers made of paper products. Steptoe’s certifications include Gold & Silver LEED through the United States Green Building Council and Energy Star certification through the Environmental Protection Agency. 

Steptoe’s Phoenix office opened on January 1, 1987, and was the first regional office for the Washington, DC-headquartered firm, which today has nine offices, including three outside the United States. The lawyers in Steptoe’s Phoenix office represent a dynamic mix of clients in industries such as manufacturing, construction, retail, high technology, financial services, and healthcare. 

For more information on the Phoenix Green Business Leader Program, click here.