Foley Hoag LLP - Corporate Social Responsibility

It is likely that the coming year will see a number of legal developments relating to the immunity and liability of corporations, states, and individuals as recognized by U.S. courts.  With an increasing number of suits…more

The announcement by Twitter last month that it is deploying the ability to block tweets on a country-by-country basis in response to government demand for content restrictions has generated an enormous amount of…more

The new IFC Environmental and Social Performance Standards -- in particular, Performance Standard 7 on indigenous peoples -- present a range of management and operational challenges for certain companies. For the first time,…more

A coalition of 80 institutional investors sent a letter to Congress last week in support of the Business Transparency on Trafficking and Slavery Act (HR 2759).  As discussed previously, the proposed legislation would…more

Gwen Jaramillo and I recently authored an article for BNA Corporate Governance Report on the role of the board of directors in overseeing a company's CSR initiatives and commitments. A copy of the article ("Board Oversight and…more

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) failed to issue a final rule on conflict minerals regulations before the end of 2011, and companies still await clear guidance on the scope of Section 1502 and the nature of…more

The Obama Administration has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum in support of the plaintiffs' position that corporations are proper defendants in cases involving claims under the…more

Former UN Special Representative on Business and Human Rights John Ruggie, now a senior advisor to our CSR practice, recently authored an article in Corporate Secretary magazine in which he observed that there has been a…more

I recently authored an article for IR Magazine on "CSR and the Role of the Board." In looking at board oversight in the area of CSR, one source that I relied upon was the 2010 report, Board Oversight of Environmental and Social…more

A developer for Google's Android mobile phone operating system has exposed what has the potential to be the most significant user privacy security vulnerability ever discovered in any computing device. In a video posted to…more

In a settlement announced today by the Federal Trade Commission and Facebook, the social networking service agreed to settle charges that it deceived consumers by telling them they could keep their information on Facebook…more

Earlier today, Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") and Facebook announced a settlement of the government's charges that the company had deceived users regarding their ability to keep their information private. We have reposted…more