Corporate Social Responsibility and Law

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2009:

Objectives:

A student who has successfully completed this subject should:

• Achieve a general knowledge of debates concerning the nature and function of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) whereby corporations are increasingly seeking to demonstrate their concern for a range of matters such as the environment and respect for human rights and labour standards
• Understand the relationship between CSR and the law
• Understand how CSR mechanisms operate as forms of regulation both in a domestic context and on a transnational basis
• Appreciate the potential role of legal advisers in promoting CSR as an aspect of lawyers’ ethics.

Syllabus:

Principal topics are likely to include:

• CSR debates and the relevance of law, with a focus on environment and labour standards
• CSR against the law? Directors’ duties under Australian corporate law and CSR
• Regulating for CSR:
  • Use of corporate law to achieve CSR aims (disclosure requirements, ethical investment, shareholder activism under corporate law)
  • Law and indirect government regulation for CSR domestically and transnationally – a case study of public finance, public procurement and CSR
  • The various forms of ‘soft law’ that are a source of CSR norms, including monitoring and enforcement of international and domestic voluntary CSR and multi-stakeholder arrangements such as the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the National Contact Point, the UN Global Compact and Corporate Codes of Conduct
• The role of the corporate lawyer – legal ethics and CSR.

• Class participation (10%)
• Class presentation (10%)
• Research paper 8,000 words (80%) (14 May) (topic approved by the subject coordinator)

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

Objectives:

A student who has successfully completed this subject should:

• Achieve a general knowledge of debates concerning the nature and function of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) whereby corporations are increasingly seeking to demonstrate their concern for a range of matters such as the environment and respect for human rights and labour standards
• Understand the relationship between CSR and the law
• Understand how CSR mechanisms operate as forms of regulation both in a domestic context and on a transnational basis
• Appreciate the potential role of legal advisers in promoting CSR as an aspect of lawyers’ ethics.

Syllabus:

Principal topics are likely to include:

• CSR debates and the relevance of law, with a focus on environment and labour standards
• CSR against the law? Directors’ duties under Australian corporate law and CSR
• Regulating for CSR:
  • Use of corporate law to achieve CSR aims (disclosure requirements, ethical investment, shareholder activism under corporate law)
  • Law and indirect government regulation for CSR domestically and transnationally – a case study of public finance, public procurement and CSR
  • The various forms of ‘soft law’ that are a source of CSR norms, including monitoring and enforcement of international and domestic voluntary CSR and multi-stakeholder arrangements such as the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the National Contact Point, the UN Global Compact and Corporate Codes of Conduct
• The role of the corporate lawyer – legal ethics and CSR.

• Class participation (10%)
• Class presentation (10%)
• Research paper 8,000 words (80%) (14 May) (topic approved by the subject coordinator)