Prof Nina Reiners
Associate Professor, Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo; Associate Researcher, Global Governance Centre (LinkedIn profile, Bluesky account)

Ellen Vrålstad
Research Assistant, Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo (LinkedIn profile)

Synopsis: Private law firms are increasingly offering pro bono services for global governance, particularly in human rights and environmental advocacy. We think critically about their impact.

Keywords: Law Firms; Human Rights; Environment; Advocacy.

Private law firms provided input to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in the Committee’s development of General Comments – for example on the rights of children in street situations and on children’s rights and the environment. They assisted the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Torture in researching potential new international law on trade in items used for torture. Another firm advised the negotiations on a UN treaty on Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (the UN BBNJ Agreement), a treaty celebrated as a milestone for international biodiversity protection.

These actors are not civil society organizations or academics. Private law firms and their lawyers, specialized in corporate law, have for some time now invested significant resources in their public services. “Big law” has taken on pressing issues by offering their services pro bono – that is, at no cost – in particular at the global level. Yet private law firms and their pro bono activities are surprisingly absent in the literature on global governance.

Addressing this gap is the aim of our PROBONO research project, supported by a starting grant from the European Research Council (ERC). Based on an initial mapping of the pro bono activities of the 25 biggest global law firms, we find that the vast majority have engaged with global governance institutions on a pro bono basis, targeting issues such as human rights, environment and climate change. Furthermore, they have acted not just as litigators, but as advocates for change. In an illustrative example, three top firms joined a pro bono clearinghouse to support two consecutive UN Special Rapporteurs in advocating for international recognition for a human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Following these advocacy efforts, the UN Human Rights Council, and subsequently the UN General Assembly, adopted landmark resolutions recognizing the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as an international human right.  

This involvement seems promising. With their expertise on law across jurisdictions, the necessary resources to advocate on global issues, and an influential professional network in the private and public sector, these firms are ideally equipped to make a difference on pressing issues like human rights and climate change.

Moreover, the firms’ engagements in global governance come at a time when international organizations are facing major budget crises. Domestic regulations and international repression increasingly prevent civil society advocates for human rights and the environment from doing their work. And the decline in democratic quality and a rise of authoritarianism comes at a cost for human rights and environmental protection. It may not be a coincidence that we find that the institutions most engaged with by private law firms – such as the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) – are institutions most immediately affected by these trends. Law firms can help react to pressing needs in global governance by offering their services pro bono, making them valuable allies for civil society and international institutions alike in pushing for solutions and transformative change on issues such as human rights and the planetary crisis.

However, we should also think critically about the role private law firms are playing. The same constraints that might motivate international institutions to welcome pro bono advice also opens space for the firms to exert influence on standard-setting and advocacy in global governance. In this context, it should be kept in mind that these firms profit from corporate clients that often flout international norms and hold dubious sustainability records. As such, law firms shaping policy- and lawmaking in these fields might as well lead to a reinterpretation of human rights and environmental standards.  

In other words, it is essential to study the implications of law firms in global governance. This is what the PROBONO project will do. Over the next five years, the project team will investigate the relations of private law firms with human rights and environmental defenders. Applying quantitative and qualitative methods to analyse their pro bono work at the international level and across domestic jurisdictions, we aim to find out more about the conditions under which they are helping or harmful advocates in global governance.