Corporate Social Responsibility
At Niederer Kraft Frey, we strive to satisfy the growing expectations of our clients, employees and the wider society by making a real and lasting difference in doing business in a responsible way. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is therefore an integral part of our corporate identity and culture.
Diversity & Inclusion: It is important to us to create an inclusive culture in which everyone – regardless of gender, background or circumstance – can reach their full potential. For this reason, we strongly support the development, training, health and wellbeing as well as the work-life balance of our employees at all levels.
Pro Bono: Through pro bono work, community and charity investments, we make a positive contribution to society.
Environmental Sustainability: We further place great importance on environmental sustainability by embracing environmental challenges. We strive to reduce our environmental impact by paying continuous attention to a resource-conserving use of materials, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and efficient use of energy.
Diversity & Inclusion
At Niederer Kraft Frey, we strive to create a diverse, multi-national and multi-cultural workplace, where everyone feels welcome. Our lawyers are from different cultures, stem from all walks of life and deal with matters in 13 languages on a daily basis. Having a workforce just as diverse as our clients enables NKF to provide a better service through understanding not only the expressed needs of our clients, but also their unstated cultural and non-verbal codes.
20% of our executive committee are female partners
11 different countries & 13 languages
40% female lawyers
55% of all 240 employees
are female
Diversity and inclusion is promoted throughout the firm by a number of initiatives:
International experience & intercultural exchange
NKF fosters diversity and international knowledge by supporting lawyers in undertaking LL.M. studies abroad and providing the possibility of secondments with foreign firms or in-house at our clients. We further established the NKF Foreign Associates Programme, welcoming foreign-qualified lawyers to work at NKF as (senior) associates. Our clients greatly appreciate the diverse nature of our team. We are proud to be one of the firms with the highest percentage of foreign-trained lawyers in Switzerland.
Flexible working conditions
NKF aims to retain a diverse workforce by being flexible – allowing part-time work, remote working, and providing generous maternity leave, in order to allow all employees to reconcile their home and work life throughout the different stages of their lives and careers.
Equal opportunities
NKF has granted generous maternity leave, supplementing the rather short statutory leave with further leave of absence of several months. Once elected partner, working mothers may join the partnership on a part-time basis, with the objective of gradually returning to full-time work over the span of ten years. This structure was chosen with the explicit goal of giving working mothers the option to care for their children when they are young, while continuing to pursue their careers.
All our partners are equity partners; this also applies to the women joining the partnership under the terms of the female partner model. They enjoy the same rights in the partnership as their male counterparts, including voting power. In comparison to other Swiss top tier law firms, NKF employs the most female equity partners in Switzerland.
Mentoring programme
Upon entering the firm, every trainee and associate is paired with two mentors – one at partner the other at (senior) associate level – who will be at the new trainee‘s / associate‘s side for the duration of their employment at NKF. The mentoring programme covers both every-day matters as well as long-term career planning, including questions of specialisation, further training and secondments.
Community building
NKF hosts many social networking events in order for employees to engage in activities outside the workplace. Besides regular seasonal events, such as the summer and Christmas party, we established the following community engagements:
- The NKF jogging club, which meets at least twice a week for a 40min run
- The NKF football team, which has participated in the various football competitions organised by members of the Zurich Bar Associations: the “Zürcher Anwaltsmeisterschaft” and the “Mundialito”
- An annual NKF Tennis event. Such events are key to creating strong relationships and to provide even better mandate work. Furthermore, our staff are also committed to community runs, supporting charitable organisations and those in need.
LGBTQ+ and disability inclusion
NKF strives to create an environment of inclusion and belonging, where sexual orientations, gender identities, social identities, personal background, socio-economic circumstances and disabilities are no barriers to succeed. Our focus is on fostering the unique talents and abilities of our employees.
Partnerships, forums & networks
We foster partnerships with various organisations, supporting women’s careers and fostering exchange and dialogue, such as 100 Women Finance, tax women, IFLR Women Forum, Universa – the Women’s Business Network at HSG and AIJA. Internally, we established a NKF Women’s Forum, in which we bring together female lawyers of all ranks to discuss how to strengthen women’s roles at NKF but also how to widen our network. Dedicated coaching series with external speakers further aim to strengthen women’s career paths.
Awards & Rankings
NKF prides itself to be a forward-thinking firm, which is open to change. This has been also recognised and acknowledged by several award wins:
- Citywealth Magic Circle Awards 2022 & 2021: NKF awarded for Diversity/Gender Programme of the Year
- Citywealth Magic Circle Awards 2021: NKF Private Clients partner Catherine Grun Meyer won bronze in the Woman of the Year category
- Euromoney Women in Business Law Europe Awards 2020: NKF recognised as Swiss Law Firm of the Year (Best in Switzerland)
Pro Bono
Niederer Kraft Frey has been supporting individuals, charities and non-profit organisations over many years. Our lawyers are committed to charitable causes through free legal advice (pro bono), charitable donations and participating in community activities. We encourage our lawyers to use their high-level skills to provide free legal advice to uphold the rule of law and bring access to justice for those who are denied it or are forgotten by the system. We ensure that the same standards of quality and service that we provide to our paying clients also apply to those we serve on a pro bono basis. For NKF, it is crucial that all mandates are treated with equal importance. Several members of the firm sit as voluntary ambassadors on the boards of various foundations.
Environmental Sustainability
At Niederer Kraft Frey, we attach great importance to environmental sustainability and therefore continuously look for opportunities to reduce our environmental impact and lower our carbon footprint. For this purpose, we consistently pay attention to a resource-conserving use of materials, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from all operational processes and energy efficiency in our building. At the same time, we raise awareness of the climate protection topic among our employees and the general public.
Environmental and sustainability measures at NKF include:
- Separation and – where possible – recycling of waste
- To reduce PET waste, we offer exclusively local water and soft drinks in glass bottles
- A modern and highly efficient office building with good insulation and high energy standards
- Employees can reach the office easily by public transport thanks to its central location
- For employees who come to work by bicycle, we offer bicycle parking right next to the building and shower facilities (incl. towels)
- Purchase of electricity from renewable sources and use of low-carbon technologies
- Our building is LEED certified, which means that it was developed, planned and realized according to measurably sustainable aspects (LEED = Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)
- Use of sustainable and regional food at internal and external events whenever possible
- We strive to recycle clothes by organising fundraising activities for charitable purposes and internal Reawake Festivals
To further improve our environmental performance and meet our voluntary and legal obligations we aim to regularly review our environmental policy (and report our environmental performance both internally and externally).