Harvard, Stanford, Yale Law project monitors law firms' Russia pledges - Reuters.com
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(Reuters) - The top three U.S. law schools have joined forces to track law firms' policies on working for Russian clients in the wake of that country’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine, accusing some of "splitting hairs about which clients they will avoid."
Law professors at Stanford, Yale, and Harvard categorized statements by major U.S. and U.K. law firms regarding their Moscow offices and Russia-related work, calling on them to fully cut ties with the Kremlin, state-owned or controlled firms, and sanctioned entities and people.
Law firms shutting down or spinning off their Moscow offices is not enough, the professors say. “When McDonald’s shuts its doors in Moscow, it cannot mail burgers from London,” they wrote on a Stanford website for the effort. “By contrast, law firms can and do serve Russian interests from afar."
So far only three firms are listed on the site as declining all new work from sanctioned parties or government-related clients and withdrawing from current engagements when possible: DLA Piper; Norton Rose Fulbright; and Gowling WLG. Far more firms have either stayed silent on Russia or issued public statements that fall short of promising to eschew work for Kremlin-linked or sanctioned clients completely.
Harvard law professor John Coates said Thursday that researchers hope to expand the scope of the list and to monitor whether firms are living up to their commitments. Such a policing effort would be extremely difficult, however, since many law firm-client relationships are not public.
Law students are separately exerting pressure on law firms to end their Russia engagements. Nearly 250 students from the top 14 U.S. law schools have signed a petition calling on firms to drop all Russian clients. The group Law Students for Climate Accountability is highlighting law firms that represent Russian fossil fuel clients.
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source: https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/harvard-stanford-yale-law-project-monitors-law-firms-russia-pledges-2022-03-17/
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