Conventional wisdom holds that lawsuits harm a corporation's reputation. So why do corporations and other businesses litigate even when they will likely lose in the court of law and the court of public opinion? One explanation is settlement: some parties file lawsuits not to win but to force the...

The classic question in international law concerns its effectiveness. Today, this old debate concerns the usefulness of treaties. Yet those engaging in this debate share a common problem. They evaluate treaty success by focusing on the effects of treaties on one type of actor: states. This...

Corporations try to convince us that they are good global citizens: “Brands take stands” by engaging in cause philanthropy; CEOs of prominent corporations tackle a variety of issues; and social values drive marketing strategies for goods and services. But despite this rhetoric, corporations...

Global governance has not yet caught up with the globalization of business. As a result, our headlines provide daily accounts of the extent and consequences of these “governance gaps.” The ability of corporations to evade state control has also contributed to an unusual, even frightening,...

When organizations act in ways that offend the public interest, parties seeking to change that behavior traditionally turned to litigation to force these organizations to reform, whether by command or consent. For example, following Brown v. Board of Education, “structural reform litigation”...

On February 24, 2022, Russian troops launched a full scale invasion against Ukraine. Following the invasion, governments around the world issued a range of economic sanctions on Russian banks, state owned enterprises, the technology and financial sectors, and Russian individuals in order to stop...

International law and corporate governance share a special relationship: each can offer a way to address shortcomings in the other. International law offers potential solutions to negative externalities generated by corporate activity that harm consumers, employees, local communities, and a...

A transnational legal order (TLO) is emerging regarding the role of businesses in respecting human rights. This legal order includes multistakeholder initiatives, international organization recommendations and guidelines, NGO certifications, and other voluntary instruments. Many of the norms...

This chapter explains how corporate compliance with nonbinding international institutions results from an exchange of legitimacy for influence. Actors outside a corporation bestow legitimacy upon a corporation in exchange for influence over that corporation’s practices or policies.In this...

Conventional wisdom predicts that international law must proceed through a “state pathway” before regulating corporations: it binds national governments who then bind corporations through enactment and enforcement of domestic laws and regulations. But recent corporate practices confound this...