The New Wild West: A Conference Exploring Corporate Accountability and the Law

Photo By Alison Josselyn

Dean Bill Flanagan with three co-chairs of the upcoming conference "The Wild West: Multinational Corporations in the Global South": (seated) Jared Giesbrecht, Law '08; (standing) Beth Spratt, Law '08, and Adriana Vaduva, Law '10.

The New Wild West: A Conference Exploring Corporate Accountability and the Law

The Human Rights Law and Environmental Law student associations at Queen's have organized a conference, sponsored by the Dean's Excellence Fund, to examine corporate accountability and the law. The conference, "The New Wild West: Multinational Corporations in the Global South," will be held in Kingston on March 15, 2008, featuring four panels exploring the nature of corporations, and the role of government, legal and political challenges in developing lines of accountability, and the reforms needed to ensure overseas accountability.

"The New Wild West" has already attracted a host of experts in human rights and environmental law from academia and industry. Jared Giesbrecht Law '08, one of the co-chairs of the conference, expects that the panels will inspire attendees, as future lawyers, policy-makers, and shareholders, to consider how they can effectively develop responsible and accountable Canadian multinational corporations.

"My hope is that we will be able to investigate the legal and political challenges involved in establishing mandatory standards for Canadian corporations operating overseas," said Jared. "There are fascinating and challenging questions involved in regulating activities that take place in other jurisdictions and it is important that we begin to engage these questions as a legal community."

The conference was established amid growing concerns within the Human Rights Law and Environmental Law associations over the growth of multinational enterprises and its effect on human resources, environmental protection and human rights in developing nations.

"I, along with several friends from Queen's Law, have become increasingly aware of the need for legal measures that will hold Canadian corporations accountable to higher human rights, environmental and labour standards while working overseas," said Jared.

All Queen's Law students are welcomed and encouraged to attend the conference. The chairs believe that sharing ideas and inspiring fellow students to become involved in corporate accountability is an important part of the Queen's Law education.

"Queen's Law continues to be outstanding in the area of corporate law and this conference will be a perfect complement to that shining tradition," said Jared. "It will be especially appealing to students and faculty who are interested in corporate governance, international law, human rights, and environmental law and will allow those who have little experience in these areas to get up to speed on the current issues and challenges in this exciting area of law."