Canadian Lawyer

Legal Ethics by Philip Slayton Is anybody listening? W hat do you do if a corporate client doing business overseas disdains local human rights? It would be easy to flounder around, rudderless. The United Nations to the rescue! In 2011, the UN Human Rights Council unanimously approved "The Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights," generally known as the UNGP. Its basic principles are "protect, respect, and remedy." The state has a duty to protect human rights. The private sector has a responsibility to respect them. Both states and the private sector must provide remedies for abuses. Here's the interesting part: In the UNGP, these principles apply at home and abroad. 16 October 2013 www.CANADIAN L a w ye r m a g . c o m The global legal profession yawned and looked the other way. In 2012, the American Bar Association House of Delegates endorsed the UNGP, but, as far as one can tell, ABA approval has had no effect on how U.S. law firms behave. In Canada, the guiding principles have attracted a smidgen of academic attention, but no interest from the practising bar. The Canadian Bar Association has been silent on the subject. International human rights? Who cares? But an interesting thing happened in Britain this past July. The London-based A4ID (Advocates for International Development) issued a guide to the UNGP for the legal profession. The American Lawyer Litigation Daily described it as a "primer on how to handle your evil clients." The guide's general idea is lawyers should use their "leverage" with clients to get them to avoid or stop human rights violations, and must not themselves contribute to such violations. The A4ID document is poorly written and sadly hortatory, although it is enlivened a little by hypotheticals ripped from the headlines. What should you do, for example, if your law firm "has concluded negotiations on behalf of a client in a North African country that is licensing information technology from a U.S.-based company and is finalising the terms of the agreement. The new government, elected following the pro-democracy revolution, is becoming increasingly frustrated with the antigovernmental demonstrations and is enacting measures to censor and restrict free speech and association." The A4ID answer? "The firm will want to discuss with its client the evolving situation, the impact the political changes might have on the licensing arrangement, and the eventual ability of the client to operate without infringing on the rights of citizens." Regrettably, the guide does not tell you what to do if your client couldn't care less about the rights of citizens in a North African country and tells you to mind your own business. Another example: A client with a refinery in Algeria asks you to review an employment contract for security personnel following an attack on its premises. A4ID advises you "will not only want to review the contract in light of labour standards contained in key International Labour Organisation conventions, but also should consider whether the responsibilities assigned under the contract do not encourage excessive use of force by the security personnel that would result in infringements on the Darcy Meunchrath Lawyers wield limited influence with clients that abuse human rights with their operations in developing nations.

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