Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has evolved from a “nice idea” or “marketing opportunity” to a true business imperative. Companies are increasingly becoming sophisticated with respect to CSR reporting and are checking internationally accepted reporting guidelines for comparison and bench marketing. Consumer boycotts, shareholder lawsuits and states are willing to prosecute companies that provide inaccurate disclosures. Counsel needs to become conversant with human rights law, environmental law and international mandatory CSR reporting standards.

Henry Thoreau once mused “What we call wildness is a civilization other than our own.” Picking up on the theme, scouring other countries’ national mores, standards and priorities concerning human rights, the environment, labor practices and other social and governance issues for inspiration and practical lessons was once the luxury of the inquisitive scholar or traveler. For litigators representing business interests in the “wilderness” of other nations, in contrast, domestic corporation law was the only platform dictating behavior. Little attention was paid to the effects a foreign organization might have on the local population, rule of law, or ecosystem. This terra incognita approach to comparative law, however, began to erode as the concept of CSR began to gain transnational currency.