Modern Slavery Statement FY 2023/24

Gilbert + Tobin acknowledges the traditional owners and custodians of the lands on which it operates, the Gadigal peoples (Sydney), the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation (Melbourne) and the Whadjuk Noongar peoples (Perth). G+T pays respect to Elders past and present. G+T also acknowledges the continued spiritual and physical connection of the Gadigal, Wurundjeri and Whadjuk Noongar to their lands and waters, known as Country.

1. A message from Gilbert + Tobin’s CEO on behalf of the G+T reporting entities

We are proud to present Gilbert + Tobin’s fifth annual modern slavery statement in accordance with the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth). Gilbert + Tobin is committed to working toward a world that is free from modern slavery and in which human rights are universally respected.

This year, we continued our pilot of the Freedom Hub’s Risk Analysis and Measurement Platform (RAMP) as a tool for assessing supply chain risk with a selection of our suppliers. We are continuing to trial new processes and solutions to improve our modern slavery response.

Sam Nickless (December 2024) CEO & Partner

Signed on behalf of all reporting entities

This Modern Slavery Statement was approved by the Gilbert + Tobin Board in November, 2024.

2. Overview

Modern slavery is a practice known by various terms including forced labour, forced or servile marriage, debt bondage, forced commercial sexual exploitation, human trafficking, slavery-like practices, and the sale and exploitation of children. Regardless of the form it takes, these practices are characterised by the systematic removal of an individual’s freedoms to enable exploitation for personal or commercial gain. The problem is widespread and not improving. The most recent Global Estimates of Modern Slavery indicate there are 50 million humans living in conditions of modern slavery globally [1]. The 2023 Global Slavery Index 2023, estimates 41,000 people live in modern slavery in Australia.

Reducing the risk of modern slavery in our operations and supply chains remains an ongoing process. As advised in our 2023 Modern Slavery Statement, this year we engaged modern slavery specialists, The Freedom Hub, to assist us develop a human-centred approach to modern slavery. While we did not identify any instances of modern slavery in our operations or supply chains, we are continuing to focus on improving our modern slavery risk management framework. Along with our current Modern Slavery questionnaire we piloted the Freedom Hub RAMP platform with a selection of vendors to assess its effectiveness. We continue to focus on staff awareness and education as a key component in our response.

Reporting Entities

Gilbert + Tobin is an Australian partnership. This Modern Slavery Statement is made in compliance with section 14 of the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) (the Act) on behalf of the partnership of D.T Gilbert & S Nickless & W.R Spain trading as Gilbert + Tobin (ABN 88 775 098 848) and G&T Service Company Pty Ltd as trustee for G&T Service Trust (ABN 77 458 970 098), an associate entity of Gilbert + Tobin (G&T Service Company). These reporting entities are referred to collectively in this statement as ‘G+T’ (‘we’ / ‘us’ / ‘our’). This statement has been prepared by Gilbert + Tobin in consultation with G&T Service Company and and covers the period 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024.

[1] Global Estimates of Modern Slavery, September 2022.

Associated entities

Gilbert + Tobin oversees the associated entities set out in Table 1. G&T Service Company is the only reporting entity in this group. The other associated entities have voluntarily adopted this Modern Slavery Statement.

Table 1 List of Gilbert + Tobin’s associated entities

3. Our Structure, Operations and Supply Chain

3.1 About us

Gilbert + Tobin is an independent Australian law firm, with 1029 partners and employees in its partnership and associated entities. The firm was founded in 1988 by Danny Gilbert and Tony Tobin as a small team of lawyers focused on providing excellent legal advice on high-profile, complex matters.

Gilbert + Tobin has had outstanding success since those early days. We are now recognised as a leading transaction, regulatory and disputes law firm. We handle some of the most complex transactions in Australia, advising acquirers, targets and financiers. We are trusted by clients on sensitive regulatory investigations and approvals, litigation and Royal Commissions.

Gilbert + Tobin provides legal services to corporations, governments, non-profits and other organisations on their most challenging issues. Our practice groups during the year were organised as Disputes & Investigations; Corporate Advisory; Consumer, Competition and Market Regulation; Banking & Finance; Technology & Digital; Energy & Infrastructure; Intellectual Property; and Real Estate. In addition to legal services, we also provide consulting services to clients on inhouse legal operations and technology, through our G+T Innovate team.

Gilbert + Tobin has been committed to improving the human rights of all since the founding of the firm. Since inception, pro bono work has been a vital part of who we are, what we stand for and what we do. The firm’s pro bono legal practice has a proud track record and human rights is one of the core focus areas of the practice group. Our commitment to pro bono legal services was informed by the strong view of the founding partners that legal services have responsibilities to the community to help ensure that our legal system is fair and accessible to all, and this view is shared firm wide. We maintain a strong commitment to the provision of pro bono services to disadvantaged people and not-for-profit organisations and focus on reconciliation with Australia’s Indigenous peoples.

3.2 Our operations

Gilbert + Tobin is an unincorporated partnership of 108 partners and provides legal services. We operate in Australia only, through three offices located in Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth. We do not have any international locations; however, we regularly advise international clients and work closely with leading overseas law firms to support our clients.

The Gilbert + Tobin partnership and its associated entities is governed by a board selected from among the partners of Gilbert + Tobin. Each associated entity, including G&T Service Company, has its own board of directors, under the oversight of the Gilbert + Tobin Board.

D.T Gilbert & S Nickless & W.R Spain trading as Gilbert + Tobin (Gilbert + Tobin partnership) employs all the firm’s admitted legal practitioner staff.

G&T Service Company provides operational services to support the partnership and employs most of the firm’s operational staff. G&T Service Company delivers its services, in part, through an outsourced arrangement with Elevate Services Limited, who provides services from a dedicated service centre based in India.

Table 2 Number of staff employed by each Gilbert + Tobin entity

3.3 Our Impact

G+T makes a strong contribution to the Australian economy, with over 1,000 full-time, part-time and casual employees as at 30 June 2024. This includes an intake of 45 graduates this year.

G+T’s strategic ambition is ‘to be Australia’s leading transactions, regulatory and disputes firm, committed to outstanding corporate citizenship’.

Our lawyers are members of the Law Societies of NSW, Victoria, and Western Australia. Our firm is also a member of other associations including the Business Council of Australia, Business Council for Sustainable Development Australia and Australian Legal Sector Alliance. G&T Tax Services Pty Limited is a registered tax agent under the Tax Agents Services Act 2009 (Cth).

We are committed to outstanding citizenship. Our pro bono legal services have a proud track record, and we champion important causes, such as marriage equality, and reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We value diversity, equity and inclusion, and have one of the highest proportions of women partners among major Australian law firms.

Gilbert + Tobin continues to be committed to helping our clients respond to their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) risks. Gilbert + Tobin’s Climate, Sustainability & ESG practice continues to work with clients across all sectors to understand their ESG issues, support their ESG strategies, and manage regulatory compliance risks. As Australia’s leading transactional firm, we have also seen the increasing importance that ESG plays in guiding investment decisions. Our team brings the same rigour we apply to all other investment due diligence to ESG due diligence. We work with our clients to frame appropriate scopes of work for transactions due diligence which addresses not only regulatory compliance, but also considers business approaches to ESG governance, policies and procedures and climate and ESG strategy. This enables key ESG risks and opportunities to be identified and taken into consideration in transaction decision-making, structuring, risk allocation and pricing, and enabling our clients to develop clear pathways for mitigation of identified risks.

Our due diligence services also extend to human rights and sustainability due diligence for businesses and their supply chains, including applying and putting the UN Guiding Principles into practice.

3.4 Our supply chain

G+T mainly procures goods and services from suppliers based in Australia. Our major procurement categories are set out in Table 3. We note there have been no major changes to our supply chain since last year.

Excluding legal services disbursements, this year Gilbert + Tobin used over 800 suppliers and approximately 87% of spend was with a core group of 100 suppliers.

3.5 Offshore outsourced services

Gilbert + Tobin’s direct overseas supply chain includes two offshore vendors, located in India and South Africa. Elevate Services in India have a substantial team of people supporting our business with technology, finance and marketing support and document review.

Gilbert + Tobin utilise Exigent, based in South Africa, to provide word processing services on an ad hoc basis. In 2023 Exigent was merged with Morae Global and still continue to provide these services when required.

4. Our modern slavery risks

Gilbert + Tobin did not identify any specific instances of modern slavery harm this year. However, we have identified several areas within our operations and supply chain where risk factors for modern slavery exist.

These risk areas were informed by a modern slavery risk review conducted in FY2024, using desktop review of modern slavery data and due diligence related documentation. The assessment of modern slavery risks was overseen by G+T’s Risk Committee. This committee comprises the accountable heads of operational functions (technology, HR, marketing, services, finance), representative partners of the firm, the Chairman, Executive Partner, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Risk Officer (CRO).

We make a risk-based analysis of our expenditure to identify areas of modern slavery risk. The process involved assessing the modern slavery risks of the firm’s top 100 suppliers (by spend) based on the type of product or service provided, the geography of supply, and any known supplier-specific issues. This assessment identified the areas of risk as set out in Figure 1 (below).

We have previously assessed that the risk of all forms of modern slavery has been heightened in recent years by compounding crises including the COVID-19 pandemic, armed conflicts and climate change, resulting in serious disruption to employment and education, increases in extreme poverty and forced and unsafe migration, and an increase in reports of gender-based violence (Global Estimates of Modern Slavery Report) [2] and consider the risk remains heightened.

In May 2024 the Modern Slavery Amendment (Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner) Bill 2023 passed through Parliament. The Act establishes an antislavery commissioner with a wide range of powers.

The Anti-Slavery Commissioner will help advocate for and promote action to combat modern slavery. The Commissioner’s role will include providing assistance and support for victims, assisting businesses in identifying and addressing modern slavery risk in their operations and supply chains, and ensuring our systems for preventing, detecting, investigating and prosecuting offences continue to improve. Gilbert + Tobin continued to use the Global Slavery Index [3] and Global Estimates of Modern Slavery Report [4] to identify countries of higher risk and sectors of higher risk within those countries.

[2] Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage, International Labour Organization, Walk Free and the International Organization for Migration, September 2022.

[3] See footnote 1.

[4 ] See footnote 2.

4.1 Operations

Clients

Gilbert + Tobin’s core business is the provision of legal services to clients. If clients are engaged in or associated with modern slavery in their operations or supply chains, Gilbert + Tobin might be unintentionally linked to such practices through the provision of our legal services to the client.

Offshore vendors 

Gilbert + Tobin has service agreements in place with two offshore vendors that provide technology, finance and marketing support, document review, and word processing services. These vendors are based in India and South Africa.

Gilbert + Tobin has identified that the countries in which these suppliers operate have a higher risk of potential modern slavery based on the presence of factors including political instability, poverty, the displacement of people due to conflict and climate change, and discrimination on the basis of gender, race, caste and ethnicity (Global Slavery Index).

Contingent workforce

Our arrangements with offshore vendors facilitate contingent workforce requirements to meet service demands.

4.2 Supply chain

Most of our suppliers are Australian based. However, many of these suppliers themselves source goods or services from overseas. Some of these are from locations that may be more at risk of modern slavery. We recognise that the risks may be at the second or third stage removed from the party with which we have contracted.

4.3 Facilities management

Our expenditure on facilities is significant. Given the nature of some of the services provided, it presents some of the most important modern slavery risks. Cleaning services are recognised as key risk sector for modern slavery in Australia. The industry is particularly susceptible to the exploitation of workers largely due to:

• the demographic vulnerability of the workerscommonly employed as cleaners, many of whom may be on temporary visa; and

• the complex employment chains and contracting arrangements (often in multiple tiers) which may obscure labour conditions.

Similar risks exist in other facilities services, such as maintenance contracts for plants and office equipment, as well as couriers.

4.4 Outsourced teams

Where third parties are providing the services of individuals to us under an outsourced arrangement, there is a risk of modern slavery issues with the employment of those individuals. This risk is heightened where the supply is from overseas, outside our immediate physical presence, and from countries where there are higher risk factors.

4.5 Merchandise

Our marketing function involves the purchase of branded goods, including stationery items, clothing and other giftware. These types of products can be higher risk because of the nature of their manufacture, including mass production at low cost in countries that may have a higher risk of modern slavery.

4.6 Technology hardware

Electronic goods such as computers, telephones, printers, screens, cables and other peripheral devices pose risks of modern slavery because of their complex and global supply chains. This applies to the sourcing of raw materials and the manufacturing and logistics processes along the supply chain.

4.7 Hospitality services

Due to the nature of the work involved in the production, processing, packaging and transport of food and produce, these supply chains have an elevated risk of modern slavery. In Australia, forced labour predominantly occurs in high-risk industries reliant on migrant workers who enter Australia on temporary visas including agriculture, construction, domestic work, meat processing, cleaning, hospitality and food services (Global Slavery Index).

5. Our actions to assess and address modern slavery risks in FY2024

This section sets out the actions we have taken to assess and address modern slavery risks in our operations and supply chain this year.

5.1 Resourcing our modern slavery commitments

This year we brought in a new dedicated General Counsel and created our Compliance, Legal and Risk (CLeaR) team, headed jointly by the general Counsel and our Chief Risk Officer. Our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) team and CLeaR team worked closely together to implement the firm’s modern slavery approach.

Gilbert + Tobin’s risks were overseen by G+T’s Risk Committee. This committee comprises the accountable heads of operational functions (technology, human resources, marketing and business development, procurement, finance), representative partners of the firm, the Chairman, Executive Partner, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Risk Officer (CRO).

The firm engaged anti-slavery non-profit, The Freedom Hub, to provide the RAMP supplier modern slavery risk assessment platform. This platform was piloted with a small number of vendors across FY2023 and FY2024. The outcomes were mixed, and our use of the platform is being discontinued. We will explore other technological solutions for supply chain due diligence in the next reporting year.

5.2 Supplier rationalisation and onshoring supplier onboarding process

Gilbert + Tobin has a decentralised approach to procurement with a significant number of staff authorised to make purchases, resulting in a large catalogue of small suppliers, which may increase the risks of modern slavery in our supply chain.

This year we continued the process of centralising information and record keeping of suppliers and endeavouring to rationalise the number of suppliers for each procurement category.

We continued to develop our supplier onboarding process and as part of the updated process, G+T now requires suppliers formally to acknowledge our Supplier Code of Conduct and to complete our modern slavery questionnaire or provide a copy of their Modern Slavery Statement, with some exceptions for small businesses.

5.3 Due diligence: Supply chain

Gilbert + Tobin has established processes for assessing and monitoring modern slavery risk in our supply chain. Our Procurement and Risk teams continue to operationalise our Supplier Modern Slavery due diligence program, as set out in previous modern slavery statements.

This year we issued the firm’s modern slavery questionnaire to the firm’s top 107 suppliers (by spend) using compliance management platform, 6clicks. Where a supplier had already made public its own Modern Slavery Statement, we did not require that supplier complete our modern slavery questionnaire.

Of our top 107 suppliers, 70 had issued a Modern Slavery Statement, 34 responded to the Gilbert + Tobin questionnaire, and 3 did not respond.

We assessed the responses of the 34 suppliers who responded to the modern slavery questionnaire and no issues were identified.

The annual assessment of our top 107 suppliers (by spend) shows that we have obtained a 97% response compliance to Gilbert + Tobin expectations in regard to modern slavery practices from its suppliers. This represents an increase of 15% from our FY23 statement.

For top suppliers that neither responded to Gilbert + Tobin’s questionnaire nor made a Modern Slavery Statement available publicly, Gilbert + Tobin intends to review the terms of its agreement with the supplier and where possible source an alternative provider who can meet the firm’s expectations.

In relation to the areas of our supply chain identified as being of higher risk, the following due diligence was undertaken:

Hospitality services

G+T has 10 travel and catering suppliers in its top 107 suppliers (by spend). We have issued modern slavery questionnaires to 3 of these suppliers, all of which responded. The remaining suppliers have published modern slavery statements.

Technology hardware

Of our three key technology hardware suppliers, two suppliers completed our modern slavery questionnaire in FY2024, and no modern slavery risks were identified. One supplier did not complete the questionnaire but had a modern slavery statement which was reviewed, and which demonstrated that the supplier had systems in place to manage modern slavery risks.

Facilities management

Gilbert + Tobin has three key facilities suppliers – Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) (NSW), Jones Lang LaSalle (VIC) and Brookfield. Both Jones Lang LaSalle entities and Brookfield have Modern Slavery Statements on their websites. We have reviewed their Modern Slavery Statements and confirmed that these suppliers have all implemented systems for managing modern risks within their business and supply chains.

We have completed the pilot of The Freedom Hub’s Risk Assessment and Management Platform (RAMP), a risk management tool to enhance our collaboration with suppliers in our response to modern slavery risk and controls. In the next financial year, we intend to leverage the knowledge acquired during that pilot to assess the market for the risk management tool that best meets the requirements of Gilbert + Tobin.

5.4 Management controls

Facilities

Facilities are an area of heightened risk of modern slavery in Australia, given the nature of the sector (see section 4.3). Our offices are all housed within buildings that are owned and operated by top-tier landlords, from whom we source much of these services. We have strong and continuing engagement with our landlords on this issue to understand and address any such risks.

Outsourced teams

While this was an area that warranted attention, we assessed the risks of modern slavery in this situation as low, given the substantial, regular engagement that we have with the suppliers we use for these services, Elevate and Exigent (now Morae Global). Both suppliers are reputable top-tier suppliers of these services, with both headquarters based in the US. Our agreements with them are subject to terms relating to working conditions and treatment of their staff and their Modern Slavery Statements are both publicly available. There were no complaints or disclosures through any channels, including our confidential whistle-blower platform Whispli, from Elevate and Exigent/Morae staff.

Senior managers from G+T are responsible for interacting with and managing the Elevate and Exigent/ Morae teams and know the outsourced staff and regularly meet with them on video and audio calls. These dedicated outsourced staff have access to G+T communications in the same way as our Australian-based staff. They have access to G+T’s whistle-blower channels and protections and receive the same training and information on their availability.

The market for people with the skills of these staff is competitive, particularly in India. Turnover occurs on a regular basis as opportunities emerge, indicating free movement for these staff.

Technology hardware

This is a difficult area of risk that almost all businesses will face. G+T is a relatively small customer of the suppliers of this equipment. Addressing this risk will require coordinated, global actions from governments and all participants in the supply chain. For our part, we are focusing on ensuring our purchases are from top-tier reputable suppliers and engaging with those suppliers to better understand their supply chains and approaches to addressing the risks of modern slavery.

Merchandise

Over the past few years, we have focused on rationalising our suppliers for this type of purchase and ensuring that all procurement is done through a centralised marketing function. The greatest risk would be from individuals making their own purchases or orders from suppliers where the same level of inquiry would not have been completed.

The current approach requires all staff to only purchase such merchandise through an online portal with a single supplier, that has provided us with their Social Compliance Policy which assures us that they are compliant and monitor the modern slavery risks in their own supply chain. We recognise this part of our supply chain as having particular risk and will be monitoring suppliers’ compliance with our policy documents closely.

5.5 Capability building

We have engaged modern slavery specialist consultancy and social enterprise, The Freedom Hub to assist with our modern slavery risk assessment and response.

In FY2024, The Freedom Hub delivered interactive modern slavery training to over 20 staff all directly involved in making procurement decisions. The topics covered by this training session included:

• Modern slavery worldwide,

• Modern slavery in everyday products,

• International responses,

• The Australian Modern Slavery Act,

• What is modern slavery,

• Who must comply,

• Requirements for compliance,

• Identifying modern slavery risks, and

• Understanding the risk exposure.

This session was delivered in person and online and a recording was also added to our learning platform to ensure it reached the widest audience possible.

We will continue to review our training sessions annually and make amendments to ensure that it is current and that all changes are made to meet the changes in the legislation.

6. Assessment of effectiveness and our actions for the future

G+T intends to focus on the following actions in the upcoming period.

6.1 Ongoing development of fundamental effectiveness

G+T has established an effective base for assessing and managing modern slavery risks. We will continue to review our policies and procedures to ensure that we are effectively monitoring and assessing any risks in our operations and with our suppliers. This will involve consideration of stakeholder engagement with our policy documents and procedures. We will update these policies and procedures where appropriate following such review, in response to changes and developments relating to modern slavery risks more broadly, or changes in obligations.

6.2 Enterprise risk management

We will work with G+T’s Risk Committee to integrate the assessment and management of modern slavery risks across each area of the business in a more detailed way, in line with G+T’s Risk Management Framework.

6.3 Systems

G+T has gained additional knowledge through our RAMP pilot during the year. We intend to conduct a market-wide search for a modern slavery system that can assist G+T to assess and manage modern slavery risks through its supply chain. G+T hopes to be able to commence implementation of that system during the period.

7. Consultation

G&T Service Company was consulted in the preparation of this Modern Slavery Statement. Gilbert + Tobin’s CEO contributed to the development of this Modern Slavery Statement, is a director of G&T Service Company, engaged with the company’s senior leaders and notified the board of their entity requirements. The Board of G&T Service Company has approved this statement.

All Gilbert + Tobin’s other associated entities have been made aware of the Act’s requirements and their Boards have noted this statement.

8. Approval

This Modern Slavery Statement was approved by the board of the Gilbert + Tobin partnership on 20 November 2024 on behalf of Gilbert + Tobin and G&T Service Company. The Board of G&T Service Company then subsequently approved this Modern Slavery Statement for their operations.

Approved by G+T Board: 20 November 2024

Signed by

Name: Danny Gilbert

Title: Chairman of Gilbert + Tobin

Date: 6 December 2024

Name: Samuel Nickless

Title: Chief Executive Officer of Gilbert + Tobin and Director of G&T Service Company Pty Ltd

Date: 6 December 2024