Subjects 2009
Corporate Social Responsibility and the Law 732708
- Credited Courses: Graduate Diploma in Corporations and Securities Law 538; Graduate Diploma in Corporations and Securities Law 538; Graduate Diploma in Legal Studies L08; Master of Commercial Law 504; Master of Commercial Law 504; Master of Labour Relations Law 510; Master of Labour Relations Law 510; Master of Laws (LLM) 502; Master of Laws (LLM) 502
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.
