A look inside.

We promote actions for the well-being of our employees with specific policies and measures that have an impact on their professional development and life project.

Promoting a culture of equality and gender equity

We have held inspirational talks and film forums to promote positive masculinities and promote a culture of gender equality and equity.

In 2018 we invited Mrs. Laura Chinchilla, former President of the country to talk about the challenges she encountered on her way to her professional development until she became the country’s highest official.

In 2019 we held a Cine Forum on the film The North County with the participation of film buff Mario Giacomelli and our human rights experts.

Flextime policy and teleworking

At BLP we believe in taking the necessary steps to achieve an optimal work/life balance. As such, the Firm ensures that lawyers, regardless of gender, find the balance they need, thus understanding the benefit and importance of remaining in a productive and creative workplace. The gender equity measures adopted by BLP have worked to double the participation of women in the workforce, as well as to retain talented professionals and allow our male staff to actively and responsibly assume their role as fathers of families. With this in mind, BLP is committed to the continued implementation of innovative measures to ensure the retention of its talent and the promotion of these individuals within the Firm.

Breastfeeding Room

The vision of gender equality was a priority issue since BLP started in favor of the rights of women and professional mothers. That is why since 2012, BLP took the initiative to provide a breastfeeding room, even though this was not a law that required companies to do so. Years later, an Executive Decree was signed requiring all workplaces with more than thirty women on the payroll to have a lactation room.

BLP has been a pioneer in setting aside a conditioned and equipped space to promote breastfeeding and the care of young children who accompany their mothers and fathers to work.

Ever mindful of the challenges women face in balancing motherhood and work, BLP has adopted revolutionary measures to incorporate them into the workplace after giving birth. BLP complies with the four months of maternity leave granted by law, during which employees are entitled to their full salary. For their part, fathers at BLP have the possibility of deciding the number of days they want to spend with their spouse and newborn child.

Paternity Leave Policy

BLP has implemented a series of measures aimed at achieving a better balance between work and family life, which allows employees to distribute domestic chores in their homes more equitably. Some of the measures implemented include: flexible working hours, teleworking, paternity leave, and activities to involve the male sector in childcare.

Luis Hernández, a partner of our firm, was interviewed by the newspaper La Nación, como un ejemplo de nuest, as an example of our professionals who benefit from the firm’s flexibility policies.Luis Hernandez’s third child was admitted to intensive care at birth due to a respiratory complication. BLP extended his paternity leave indefinitely and returned to work with a healthy son.

BLP’s “Impulso” Program

In 2013, BLP launched the first stage of a financial assistance and training project for its employees. Through this program, BLP encouraged a study in which its employees could voluntarily show their personal financial concerns and receive advice on how to manage them.

In 2019, BLP provided training workshops on resume writing techniques and job interview preparation for family members of our employees who were in the process of looking for a job.

Workplace Culture

For two consecutive years we have obtained the Great Place to Work recognition, which acknowledges our policies and the satisfaction of our personnel with actions that favor the reconciliation between family life and work.

BLP has a Policy for the prevention and approach to HIV/AIDS whose main objective is to respond to the challenge of internally managing the impact of HIV/AIDS in the organization, covering issues such as stigma and discrimination, lack of knowledge about this issue, training of its employees, and other related issues. BLP has at the disposal of its personnel a medical office and a first level team, for the attention of our collaborators and possible emergencies.

Development of talent retention policies

As part of its innovative initiatives, BLP has implemented a talent retention program aimed at its workforce, with emphasis on lawyers, attorneys and paralegals, the main core of its employees. The number of people benefiting from the talent retention policies is 55% and the program includes a series of measures that seek that this labor population, which is composed of 50% women (paralegals, associate attorneys, legal managers and partners) grow professionally and remain in the firm over the years. BLP’s team of professionals has 48 female lawyers compared to 36 male lawyers, which demonstrates that our firm is attractive to female talent.

BLP’s Talent Retention Policy has been particularly sensitive to the retention of female talent since studies show that, despite parity between men and women, upon graduating from law school women are still a minority in leadership positions in law firms and even their participation in the legal market in general decreases significantly with respect to the number of women graduating. By virtue of the above, BLP has implemented measures aimed at retaining its professional talent, with sensitivity towards female talent, among which are the Flexible Working Hours Policy; Teleworking Policy; Scholarship Policy for Higher Education; Annual Quality Award Policy; Lactation Room Policy and Paternity Leave Policy, all described previously in the development of programs designed to achieve Goal 3, which undoubtedly come to complement the scope of Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals.

BLP’s internal policies for decent, dignified and non-discriminatory work

BLP has established internal policies to protect and satisfy the right to work of all its employees. One of the fundamental principles of the work environment at BLP is the non-discrimination of any employee for any reason, having specific actions to encourage a diverse team, as well as to promote the broadest participation of women in all work areas of BLP; commissions to analyze the labor integration of people with disabilities and LGBTI population, etc.

Human Talent and Inclusion Development Policy

BLP through its internal policy has implemented a strategy with actions to promote an inclusive work environment. One of the main goals is that all our employees find an optimal environment for the full fulfillment of their work responsibilities. In this way, specific actions have been established so that employees with disabilities can develop their work under equal conditions, always taking into account their needs and conditions.

SOME OF THESE ACTIONS ARE

Awareness raising and internal training process for the entire firm on attitudinal and physical accessibility for people with disabilities in the work environment.

Adequacy of work to the abilities and skills of people with disabilities working in the firm.

Support in training and studies (flexible working hours, accompaniment by office staff, sponsorship of collaborators, among others) so that people with disabilities in the Firm can continue with their academic education.

BLP has employees with disabilities in its central offices. The Firm seeks to extend inclusion initiatives in regional offices. BLP is frequently invited to participate in fairs, lectures, national events, to meet the objective of strengthening inclusive hiring in other companies and to publicize the measures, actions and good practices that the firm has achieved from the placement of people with disabilities in their offices.

Women’s coaching and mentoring program

BLP has provided the physical space and logistical facilities for interested women lawyers to participate in group coaching sessions twice a month. The group is led by an expert in gender issues and aims to help participants to enhance their skills and provide them with tools to achieve effective female leadership, thus contributing to reduce gender gaps in a profession that is still mostly led by men.

Pro bono Challenge Project

In 2018, BLP launched the Pro Bono Challenge Project through which a first edition was made asking BLP attendees to form groups and propose Pro Bono projects for the Firm. More than 14 very interesting Pro Bono projects related to BLP’s priority areas of work were submitted and after the written presentation, the competitors orally presented a defense of their project.

There were three winning projects that have the support of BLP to be realized and materialized. Two important objectives were achieved with this competition:

Promote the dedication of Pro Bono legal services to BLP’s younger population.

Identify Pro Bono projects with high impact at the national level.

Anti-Corruption Policy

Compliance is fundamental for society as it promotes transparency, ethics and compliance with legal regulations, thus contributing to prevent and detect criminal conduct, corruption, corporate fraud and abuse. At BLP we know that promoting responsibility and good corporate governance not only protects organizations, but also safeguards the interests of citizens, strengthening trust in institutions and generating a fairer and more sustainable business and social environment.

BLP, as a regional company, is committed to providing its services in compliance with the highest ethical and legal standards. Aware of the international requirements in this area, BLP has developed:

Its purpose is to implement a regional ethics code and policy to clearly reinforce the standards and principles that should govern the conduct of its professionals.

BLP trains all its employees in the region on anti-corruption issues, with respect to the applicable legislation in the country, the world and the firm’s internal policy.

Once a year, all employees in the region sign a certification in which they commit to comply with the applicable legislation and the internal anti-corruption policy. This project is very useful for BLP internally, as well as for clients who witness the commitment to provide services under the highest ethical standards.

In addition, at BLP we are committed to supporting diversity by carrying out different internal actions such as:

Non-discrimination policies and support for diversity

In 2016, BLP signed a nationwide commitment to obtain the Gender Equity Seal (granted by the Costa Rican government), to entities that demonstrate that they have institutional practice and commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals. Also in 2018, we were part of the companies that committed to the Women’s Economic Empowerment Principles at the request of the United Nations Development Program.

In 2017, BLP was the only firm in the country to sign the Declaration of San José with specific obligations for non-discrimination of LGBTI people. We ratified this signature in 2019 and 2020 when we initiated a whole process of diagnosis and elaboration of policies to prevent discrimination in the work environment of LGBTI people.

Allied Person Program. This program raises awareness among our employees about the inequalities and discrimination faced by the LGBTIQ+ community, promoting education and denunciation.

Within the Program, there is the Allied Person Oath, a voluntary commitment to support the LGBTIQ+ community by our members.

BLP develops awareness actions on non-discrimination internally and externally for clients and other organizations, through the analysis of gender equity and equality issues. It has also promoted training for non-discrimination of LGBTI people in our work team and for collaborators of our clients and partner organizations.

We are part of the Pride Connection organization, which is an initiative of the Business Alliance for Development (AED) to generate private sector initiatives on issues of inclusiveness for the LGBTI+ community.

New practice of Human Rights, Business and Development

BLP established in January 2018 the Human Rights, Business and Development practice against the background of the principles of the International Bar Association Guide. The practice presents its clients with the possibility of examining processes, business policies and managerial decisions from the vision of international human rights protection.

The firm has answered queries related to issues of diversity, accessibility, educational inclusion, gender equity, non-discrimination, among others, which originate in cases related to various legal practices (banking law, labor law, administrative law and others); for this purpose it offers its clients a highly qualified team in corporate issues, litigation, public international law, human rights, sustainability and social development. We have also provided training and workshops to companies and organizations on these topics.

During that year this practice area carried out a consultancy with the UNICEF Panama office to design and develop an education and training process for the prevention of commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents aimed at Panama’s tourism sector. This program was developed in Panama City, Coclé, Chiriquí and Bocas del Toro in coordination with the Panamanian Hotel Association (APATEL).