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IBA Legal Policy & Research Unit podcast
IBA Legal Policy & Research Unit podcast
Author: IBA Legal Policy and Research Unit
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The International Bar Association's Legal Policy & Research Unit undertakes research, develops and implements innovative strategies, projects and initiatives that are relevant to business and the rule of law, the global legal profession and the broader global community.
Their latest series features short interviews with inspiring IBA members, who share their thoughts and experiences about what it means to be a woman in the legal profession.
Their latest series features short interviews with inspiring IBA members, who share their thoughts and experiences about what it means to be a woman in the legal profession.
29 Episodes
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The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) were unanimously endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011. Their aim was to identify and clarify policies and standards for business and human rights. While they do not have legally binding force, the political consensus behind their endorsement established them as the most authoritative global framework to address adverse business impacts on all human rights.
In this episode, Sara Carnegie, Director of the IBA's Legal Policy and Research Unit (LPRU), and Maria Pia Sacco, LPRU Senior Project Lawyer, speak to Professor John Ruggie, the author of the UNGPs, who was appointed by Kofi Annan as the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for business and human rights in 2005. Together, they discuss the impact of the UNGPs and future developments in the area of business and sustainability.
The second episode of the series of podcasts on business and sustainability from the International Bar Association (IBA) Legal Policy & Research Unit (LPRU).
In this episode, Nick Folland (General Counsel, Marks & Spencer) and Sarah Dickson (Deputy General Counsel, Marks & Spencer), Sara Carnegie (IBA Director of Legal Projects) and Maria Pia Sacco (LPRU Senior Project Lawyer), discuss:
how in-house legal teams are navigating the evolving and increasingly fragmented legal framework regarding business and human rights and ESG;
the importance of multi-stakeholder initiative and collaborations in the fight against modern slavery in global supply chains;
the importance of embedding sustainability in the business model of a company.
The conversation continues with IBA members, Jonathan Drimmer (Partner, Paul Hastings), Rae Lindsay (Partner, Clifford Chance) and Hanim Hamzah (Regional Managing Partner, ZICO Law Network), to understand:
how lawyers can support companies in their journey towards sustainability;
the implications of a potential European legislation on mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence for companies outside of the EU;
how business and human rights and sustainability have gained momentum in the global legal community; and
the way in which law firms are developing to offer legal services in these areas of specialisation.
In this episode, Sara Carnegie, IBA Legal Projects Director, speaks to Graham Boal QC, former judge at the Old Bailey, about imposter syndrome and how success is not necessarily synonymous with greater confidence and wellbeing. They also focus on the devastating effects of alcoholism and depression, the stigma commonly associated with them and why promoting mental wellbeing is so important to ensure sustainable career development for legal professionals.
The discussion draws on personal accounts from Boal's memoirs, A Drink at the Bar: A memoir of crime, justice and overcoming personal demons, and references the ongoing work of the IBA on lawyer wellbeing in a global context.
In this episode, Jonathan Hoch (Head of Legal and Commercial at Anglo American) speaks with Sara Carnegie (IBA Director of Legal Projects) and Maria Pia Sacco (LPRU Senior Project Lawyer) about how Anglo American has become a leader in sustainable mining, with sustainability increasingly becoming a competitive advantage.
The conversation continues with IBA President, Sternford Moyo, who sheds light on the link between poverty, human rights, and natural resources, highlighting the importance of engaging with local communities and rightsholders.
Finally, Stéphane Brabant and Maria Angelica Burgos talk about the role lawyers can play in promoting ESG factors, the importance for CEOs to obtain a social license and the link between corruption and human rights violations.
In this episode, Sara Carnegie, IBA Legal Projects Director and Maria Pia Sacco, LPRU Senior Project Lawyer, interview Michelle Edkins, Managing Director of BlackRock’s Investment Stewardship team, and Ariel Smilowitz, an associate on the Investment Stewardship team, to explore the role of investment stewardship in promoting sustainability.
The conversation continues with Jeroen Ouwehand, Global Senior Partner at Clifford Chance, Roberto Randazzo, a partner at Legance and Ramya S Tiller, a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton, with the aim of understanding the regulatory landscape regarding sustainable finance, the importance of ESG transparency and the need for a common language to curb the risk of greenwashing.
The International Bar Association (IBA) Legal Policy & Research Unit (LPRU) has published a new episode on the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), as part of their series of podcasts on business and sustainability.
In this episode, Sara Carnegie, IBA Legal Projects Director, speaks to Zelda Perkins and Professor Julie Macfarlane about their experience with NDAs and the ‘Can’t Buy My Silence’ campaign which they launched in September 2021.
Zelda Perkins was the former personal assistant of disgraced media mogul Harvey Weinstein and spoke out about her experience in 2017, breaching the NDA by doing so. Julie Macfarlane is a Canadian law professor and world expert on NDAs.
In recent years, the IBA has carried out extensive work on bullying and sexual harassment in the legal profession, launching a groundbreaking report in 2019, followed by a global campaign to highlight the findings and recommendations.
The work has included discussion about the use of NDAs and the moral concerns about their prevalence in sexual harassment cases. Zelda and Julie shed light on this dark and complex area of law, where victims often feel cheated and intimidated by the process, and talk about their campaign to bring about legislative change on a global scale.
In this episode, Sara Carnegie, IBA Legal Projects Director, speaks with Nazar Chernyavsky, partner at the Ukrainian law firm Sayenko Kharenko and Vice-Chair of the IBA Technology Law Committee, about how life and work has changed for Ukrainian lawyers since the start of the Russian invasion.
The International Bar Association (IBA) Legal Policy & Research Unit (LPRU) has published a new podcast on achieving gender equality at the highest levels of the legal profession, as part of their series on business and sustainability.
In this episode, Sara Carnegie, IBA Legal Projects Director and Beatriz Martínez, project lawyer, speak with the Senior Partner of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Georgia Dawson, the first woman to be appointed to this position within a Magic Circle firm.
They discuss the challenges facing female lawyers in attaining and retaining senior positions in the legal profession, and the initiatives and measures that law firms can take to ensure that these workplaces adequately foster and achieve a diverse and inclusive environment.
This discussion is part of the LPRU’s ongoing project, '50:50 by 2030', to study the global underrepresentation of female lawyers in senior roles across the legal profession.
In this episode, Beatriz Martínez, IBA LPRU Project Lawyer, speaks with Marlen Estévez, partner at the Spanish law firm RocaJunyent, about the ‘50:50 by 2030’ gender project, her thoughts and advice on how to navigate a career in law and the need for connecting female lawyers within the different sectors of the legal profession. Marlen combines her role as a lawyer with the presidency of Women in a Legal World, a non-profit organisation focused on promoting female talent in the legal sector.
In this special edition of the Sustainable Law in Action podcast, Sara Carnegie, IBA Legal Projects Director, and barrister Melissa Murphy KC, speak with expert panellists from the IBA’s 2024 ESG Conference about the critical role of lawyers in the ESG space, and the challenges and opportunities facing businesses and law firms alike in this evolving and increasingly politicised environment.
An insightful discussion with IBA Secretary General, Deborah Enix-Ross, US lawyer at Debevoise and Plimpton LLP based at their New York office for over 20 years. She co-founded the Women's Interest Network within the American Bar Association's International Law Section, advocating for women's legal issues, something she has continued to do within the IBA. Deborah was President of the American Bar Association from 2022-2023 and named on the Forbes List of America’s top 200 lawyers in 2024.
Carola van den Bruinhorst is a Dutch lawyer with over 20 years’ experience at Loyens & Loeff, and consultant in transformation processes and leadership development. Carola founded the firm's Hong Kong office and has also lived abroad in New York and Milan. Passionate about diversity, she co-founded the IBA’s Diversity & Inclusion Council and has held leadership roles in IBA. She is currently pursuing an Executive Master at INSEAD (Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires).
Listen to international lawyer and mediator Faiza Alleg Dolivet sharing insights into her varied career, having lived and worked in many countries from Australia to the Congo, Tahiti to Switzerland. She has worked as an in-house legal director for a range of major companies, including Apple, Saipem and Boart Longyear. Now based with her family in France, her expertise covers many sectors and her IBA engagement includes the Anti-Corruption, Mediation, Litigation and Business and Human Rights Committees.
Lucie Allen has spent most of her career working with the legal profession, previously working as Vice President for the Global Large Law segment at Thomson Reuters. Now the Managing Director of BARBRI International, a global legal education company specialising in bar exam preparation and legal training, she works with the IBA to design specialist courses. Recognised for her collaborative approach and commitment to diversity and inclusion, she is also a director of She Breaks the Law and founder of #Menopause Matters.
The Hon Associate Justice Mary-Jane Ierodiaconou is a judicial officer of the Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia, which is the highest court in the state. Prior to her Honour’s appointment to the Bench in 2015, she worked as an employment and discrimination lawyer and co-founded female-led, collaborative Australian law firm Justitia in 2005, where she was a managing partner. Associate Justice Ierodiaconou has recently been appointed as a Commissioner of the IBA’s Professional Wellbeing Commission.
Founding partner of Nascimento e Mourão Advogados in São Paulo, Alessandra is an inspiring mentor to women and young lawyers. She is a past Chair of the Professional Ethics Committee of the IBA and a member of the SPPI Council. Alessandra created and coordinates the ‘Negotiation Techniques for Lawyers’ course at Fundação Getúlio Vargas Law School and is a guest lecturer at Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Lisbon. She holds a law degree and a postgraduate degree from the University of São Paulo, and is a negotiation specialist trained at Harvard Law School.
Imbi Jürgen is president of the Estonian Bar Association (since 2022) and now 3rd Vice-President of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE). Since qualifying in 1996 she has worked at several highly esteemed commercial law firms, specialising in energy, environmental, and contract law. She is now working as counsel in pan-Baltic law firm TGS Baltic.
Akila Agrawal is a distinguished corporate lawyer based in New Delhi with over 23 years of experience in M&A, and corporate restructuring. She is a Senior Partner at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas and set up the first creche at a law firm in India over 20 years ago when her first child was born. Akila has been consistently recognized by Chambers Global and Chambers Asia-Pacific for her expertise in Corporate and M&A law. Under her pseudonym, Vathi Agrawal, she authored the novel Marriages Not Made in Heaven, a witty and poignant portrayal of women and South Delhi life.
Adeola Sunmola is a partner at Udo Udoma and Belo-Osagie in Nigeria, where she leads teams specialising in project development and project finance in the power sector. Her expertise encompasses a diverse range of legal subjects, notably cross-border lending, syndicated lending, non-interest finance, debt restructuring, and financing for intricate power, manufacturing, and infrastructure projects in Nigeria. She was named as one of the IFLR1000 Women Leaders for 2022, and maintains a consistent status as a ‘Highly Regarded’ Lawyer according to IFLR1000.
Carli Schickerling is a Namibian lawyer and Officer of the IBA LGBTQI+ Law Committee, with a 16-year career spanning a wide range of practice areas including family law, general civil litigation, immigration and human rights. She has consistently used her legal expertise to champion the rights of minorities and marginalized groups, foster a culture of diversity and inclusion and advocate for equality under the law and in society more broadly. A member of the Law Society of Namibia, she also served as the Chairperson of its Human Rights Committee and was a member on both the Ethics and Investigations Committee, and the Child, Gender and Family Law Committee.























