Private Lawyers, Public Interest and Corporate Social Responsibility

With the advent of the United Nations Guiding Principles for Business in 2014, corporate social responsibility has begun moving from soft law to hard law, and remains an important aspect of the private lawyers’ ethical obligations in properly advising clients on human rights issues, particularly regarding the supply chain. This program will be divided into two parts. The first part will focus on contract law issues, including those involving supply chain contracts. The panel will discuss best practices, including resources available to private practitioners, and provide an overview of current statutory regimes that impose criminal and/or disclosure and reporting requirements. The second part will explore the past five years since the adoption of the UNGP and how countries are beginning to legislate disclosure and more substantive requirements to compel private companies to enforce human rights as part of corporate social responsibility. This part will explore three areas: defining and distinguishing corporate social responsibility, defining the lawyer’s professional responsibility and ethical obligations, and how corporate social responsibility relates to the increasing concern about narrowing the justice gap.