Barriston achieves B-Corp™ Certification
Barriston Law is pleased to announce that, effective August 2, 2019, it has become a Certified B Corporation®. The B Corp movement is about businesses balancing profit with purpose taking into consideration their workers, clients, suppliers, community and environment when making decisions. The B Corp™ community is a community of leaders around the world driving a global movement of people using business as a force for good. Barriston is the first law firm in Ontario to achieve this certification, the third in Canada and the 32nd in the world.
“We are so pleased with this result, and we are very excited to share what we have learned with the rest of our business community. We would love to see other businesses in our area undertake the process. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if our city had the largest number of Certified B Corps in Ontario or Canada? Think of what that could do for engagement, and attraction and retention of talent,” said Co-Managing Partner and Chief innovation Officer, Joanne McPhail. The process is certainly time-consuming, and is meant to be challenging, so that certification truly means something in the marketplace. The concept is based upon the idea that people will begin to vote with their pocketbooks by supporting businesses that are truly committed to goals other than just profit. This can provide a competitive advantage to those businesses that help to do good.
Certification can also help to cement meaning into business culture. “Going through the certification process has led us to understand our strengths and has also inspired us to get even better. It has literally changed the way we think about doing business,” said COO, Doug Moody. “We had a committee of team members who worked hard for us to get through this process, and they were so engaged in what we were trying to accomplish,” remarked Co-Managing Partner, Jim McIntosh. Typical of staff response, one team member commented, “It makes me feel amazing to work for an organization that is focused on this type of initiative, and stands behind it to such a degree that we achieved the certification. Thank you!” Another said, “When I watched the presentation on B Corp™ certification I was pretty impressed by what it stands for. Now to get the certification makes me even more proud to work at Barriston.”
Barriston hopes to work alongside the City of Barrie and the Sandbox Centre for Shared Entrepreneurship & Innovation, to educate other businesses on what B Corp™ certification is all about and how to go through the process. They also hope other law firms across the country will join them in this movement.
Learn more about Certified B Corporations® here: https://bcorporation.net/about-b-corps