Bates Wells is specialised within the purpose and impact space. Practice co-head Louise Harman focuses on sustainability-focused governance, finance, and impact investment mandates. Fellow co-head Luke Fletcher is a particular expert on the integration of purpose, impact, and positive ESG management within corporate and commercial structures. Elsewhere in the team, David Hunter and Oliver Scutt specialise in nature-, climate- and ocean-positive governance, while Sung-Hyui Park and Nirav Patel focus on development finance and impact investments.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- Luke Fletcher is interested, considered, knowledgeable, and committed.
- Sung-Hyui Park is outstanding. Her tireless commitment to navigating knotty legal issues and giving advice that is rightsized for our broader objectives is often a delicate balancing exercise, but she never fails to deliver. Park is a trusted adviser who inspires confidence across the whole team. She gets to grips with our needs quickly and decisively. She is reliable and provides consistently high quality of service with humility and excellence.
- Bates Wells' ESG practice is without a doubt the go-to firm for strong know-how as well as its solid track record in all things ESG and impact. The firm boasts an impressive portfolio of clients from across the impact economy, not-for-profit sector, and philanthropy. There is an ease with which the team operates across the rest of the firm, so you needn't worry that anything is falling between two stools.
- What attracted us to the firm is its expertise and innovations in supporting impact investments. The team has broad experience in areas that bring exceptional insight and expertise that we highly value.
- Sung-Hyui Park is an experienced professional who is an excellent representative of the firm. Her expertise in working with large international organizations - NGOs in particular - means she has insights that are particularly valuable. As an impact lawyer, she is also a leading professional seeking innovative agreements that place impact at the center.
- Thoughtful, committed, and values-aligned. We worked very closely with Sung-Hyui Park and Olivia Woodward, as well as other members of the Bates Wells team.
Key clients
- House of Hackney
- B Lab (UK)
- Fair4All Finance
- Remnant Revolution
- British Pasture Leather
- Greenwith Studios
- Athena Blue
- Social Value International
- Knepp Wildland Foundation
- Common Nature Ltd
- Wiltshire Wildlife Trust
- Luppit Landscape Partnership CIC
Work highlights
Assisted Athena Blue to embed guardians for nature and for future generations within its legal and decision-making structures.
Advised B Lab UK on the updating of the B Corp legal requirement, which mandates that certified businesses adopt a corporate purpose to pursue positive social and environmental impact alongside shareholder return, and on its application across different business structures.
Advising Social Value International on the requirement for company accounts to be “true and fair” as the foundation of its “True and Fair Project”.
Practice head
Louise Harman; Luke Fletcher
Other key lawyers
David Hunter; Sung-Hyui Park; Nirav Patel; Oliver Scutt