Authoritative human rights advice
Business and human rights
Authoritative human rights advice
Addressing human rights concerns is no longer just a CSR priority but alongside anti-bribery and corruption issues, it’s a core part of corporate compliance.
With the legal landscape in relation to business and human rights changing, global companies are having to evaluate, respond to and respect human rights as a legal obligation.
As a major international law firm with a dedicated global business and human rights practice, the first international law firm to sign the United Nations Global Compact, and experience assisting with the research that led to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, Freshfields can help.
We regularly advise large multinational companies and public authorities on the full suite of issues arising out of the UN Guiding Principles.
Our focus is on helping companies respect international human rights and comply with the related ‘hard law’, ie new modern slavery and non-financial reporting regulations, particularly in Europe and the development of the OECD National Contacts Points complaint procedures.
We also advise on operational human rights compliance issues, such as:
- human rights policies and procedures;
- internal and external capacity building and reporting requirements;
- impact of national legislation such as the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 and the 2017 French Corporate Duty of Vigilance Law; and
- grievance and remediation processes.
Our practice is global in scope. We have a dedicated, cross-disciplinary team of experienced partners and associates advising our clients across the world. Part of this work involves monitoring international human rights law developments in real-time, and providing regular updates via our human rights blog.
- Administrative and public law
- Anti-bribery and corruption
- Anti-money laundering
- Financial services regulation
- Business and human rights (regulatory)
- Carbon economy
- Data protection and privacy
- Defence and export controls
- Environmental, construction and planning law
- Foreign investment regulation
- Privatisation
- Product regulation
- Public procurement
- Regulatory and public affairs
- Sanctions
- State aid
- Trade
Our team
William Robinson Partner
London, Hong Kong
Noah Rubins KC Partner
Paris
Paul Bowden Consultant
Manchester
Deba Das Partner
London
Aaron Marcu Senior Counsel
New York
External publications
Bowden, Paul/Das, Deba: The International Business and Human Rights Agenda – The Shifting Landscape for Producers (PDF, 4.76KB), in: ICLG to: Product Liability, 2014
Kasolowsky, Boris/Voland, Thomas: The Ruggie Revolution (Die Ruggie Revolution: Menschenrechte im unternehmerischen Handeln), in: Anwaltsblatt 5/2014, pp.388-392
Kasolowsky, Boris/Voland, Thomas: The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and their application by National Contact Points (Die OECD-Leitsätze für multinationale Unternehmen und ihre Durchsetzung im Wege von Beschwerdeverfahren vor der Nationalen Kontaktstelle), in: Neue Zeitschrift für Gesellschaftsrecht 2014, pp.1288-1292
Voland, Thomas: Business and Human Rights - From Soft to Hard Law (Unternehmen und Menschenrechte - Vom Soft Law zur Rechtspflicht), in: Betriebs-Berater 2015, pp.67-75
Voland, Thomas: New Reporting Obligations under the CSR-Reporting Directive 2014/95/EU (Erweiterung der Berichtspflichten für Unternehmen nach der neuen CSR-Richtlinie), in: Der Betrieb 2014, pp.2815-2818
Voland, Thomas: Social and ecological responsibility of financial institutions (Soziale und ökologische Verantwortung von Unternehmen des Finanzsektors), in: Bauer, Denise/Schuster, Gunnar: Nachhaltigkeit im Bankensektor, 2016, pp.251-272