Attorneys and professors in law David Snyder and Sarah Dadush join the podcast to discuss the role of contracting in ESG, how a conventional approach to writing contracts may not be the best choice, which issues are fixed, and how accountability should be on both the buyer and supplier.
Contracting for ESG with David Snyder and Sarah Dadush:
Key points discussed in the episode:
1. Supply chains are doing enough for ESG compliance. David Snyder and Sarah Dadush aim to combat this with more effective measures.
2. Policies remain unimplemented if they aren't in the contract. Having a supplier code of conduct written with the assistance of a business lawyer isn't enough to create change.
3. Working at an oil refinery helped David Snyder learn the true culprit – organized crime. He wanted human and environmental efforts to be treated the same way as product manufacturing.
4. ESG can impact both consumer and investor decisions. The California Supply Chains Transparency Act pushed for full disclosure directed at the customers.
5. Focusing only on forced labor leaves out other problems.
6. Traditional approaches to contracting ESG don't work, Sarah Dadush says. It aggravates human rights risks, but it also increases the company's chances of legal violations.
7. David Snyder emphasizes the importance of risk as part of supply chain management and compliance obligations. Lawyers should also play their role in handling clients properly instead of resorting to risk shifting.
8. Contracts don't fix all supply chain issues. It all boils down to supply chain resilience. A weaker foundation puts companies in greater danger, especially in times of difficulty like the COVID-19 pandemic.
9. Buyers should be responsible when exiting contracts. Contracts have been misused at the height of the pandemic, and consumers are now urging businesses to be accountable for their shortcomings.
David Snyder was appointed professor of law at the American University Washington College of Law in the fall of 2007 and was appointed director of the Business Law Program in 2008. During 2021-2022, he also holds a Fernand Braudel Senior Fellowship at the European University Institute (Florence). He graduated summa cum laude from Tulane University Law School in 1991, and he has been a professor of law at Tulane, Indiana (Bloomington), and Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. He has been a regular visiting professor at the law school of the University of Paris II (Panthéon-Assas) since 2012. He has also been a visiting professor at the University of Paris 10 (Nanterre La Défense), Boston University, and the College of William and Mary. In addition, he has taught summer courses at the University of Mainz (Germany). After graduating from law school, Professor Snyder served as a law clerk to the Honorable John M. Duhé Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and subsequently joined the D.C. firm of Hogan & Hartson (now Hogan Lovells). In 2014 Professor Snyder was awarded a MacCormick Fellowship, during which he delivered the annual Wilson Memorial Lecture at the University of Edinburgh.
Sarah Dadush's research lies at the intersection of business and human rights. Her scholarship explores various innovative legal mechanisms for improving multinational corporations' social and environmental performance. She directs the Law School's newly-established Business & Human Rights Law Program and co-leads an ABA Business Law Section Working Group that has developed a comprehensive toolkit for upgrading international supply contracts to protect workers' human rights better.
Before joining the Rutgers faculty, Professor Dadush served as Legal Counsel and Partnership Officer for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized agency of the United Nations based in Rome. Before that, she was a Fellow at NYU's Institute for International Law and Justice, where she administered the Institute's research program on Financing for Development. She also worked as an Associate Attorney at the global law firm, Allen & Overy L.L.P., specializing in international investment arbitration and cross-border banking transactions. She received her J.D. and LL.M. in International and Comparative Law from Duke University School of Law in 2004.
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