[November 1]

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The Association is an educational organization that aims to inspire and advance business and human rights leadership, learning, collaboration and practices among commercial law firms and business lawyers around the world. We recognize the need to accelerate the dissemination of good practice in this field. We encourage law firms and lawyers to recognise both their and their clients’ responsibility to respect human rights in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights - and to integrate this responsibility into their client services across commercial legal areas, operations and other activities.

The Association seeks to implement our vision in three ways: through education and capacity building, peer learning and collaboration, and leadership and dissemination. Before admitting law firms as members of the Association, we seek to confirm that prospective members are interested and willing to contribute to a process of peer learning. As a voluntary educational organization, we do not undertake to examine or opine on complaints concerning the conduct of law firms or companies in specific matters...

[November 3]

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In summary, you ask how the Association ensures that our members adhere to internationally recognized human rights principles, how we ensure that they undertake human rights risk assessments in line with international standards, and what action we would take if those standards are not met.

Without commenting on any specific matter, we offer the following additional comments.

The Association was established precisely to facilitate the understanding of commercial law firms and lawyers of their responsibilities and those of their business clients under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and thereby to enhance the effectiveness of the Guiding Principles. We believe that educational programs are important to achieve those goals.

In order to focus on our educational mission, it is not the Association's purpose to monitor the activities of its members in order to ensure adherence to international standards pertaining to human rights. The Association does not have the resources or mandate to do so. We also note that our member law firms and lawyers are of course subject to professional and other regulations. A number of our member firms have publicly committed to adhere to relevant standards such as the UN Guiding Principles and the UN Global Compact, report publicly on how those commitments are implemented, and have undertaken human rights risk and/or materiality assessments in pursuit of such commitments. Through peer learning and other educational activities, the Association aims to assist our members to integrate the responsibility to respect human rights into their operations and activities....