Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is proud to announce that it is one of the twenty-two leading global law firms to have founded the Business and Human Rights Lawyers Association (“BHRLA”).

The BHRLA is established to inspire and advance business and human rights leadership, learning, collaboration and practice among commercial law firms and business lawyers around the world.

The BHRLA will be dedicated to the principle that business has a responsibility to respect human rights as set out in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). It will promote and support action by lawyers around the world to advise commercial clients on human rights risks and opportunities associated with business activities.

For full details of the BHRLA, see here.

Debevoise’s commitment to this area of the law is long standing. In 2019, Debevoise launched The Debevoise Business Integrity Screen, which provides in-house counsel, sustainability leaders and compliance departments with a tool aimed at navigating the increasing complex issue of the management of business integrity risk and its many legal dimensions.

In 2021,Debevoise issued a landmark report (the “Debevoise UNGPs report”) examining how judicial and quasi-judicial bodies across the globe have used and referred to the UNGPs in reaching their decisions. The report was submitted to the UN Human Rights Council as part of the ‘UNGPs 10+’ project, which was undertaken by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights to mark the ten year anniversary of the UNGPs.

These resources can be found on the firm’s ESG Resource Center, which acts as a hub for the firm’s business and human rights thought leadership, as well as content on wider ESG issues. If you’d like to sign up for weekly ESG updates from the Debevoise team, click here.

 

 

 

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