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Article

1 Feb 2012

Author:
Michael Goldhaber, Corporate Counsel [USA]

Don't Be Evil

Lawyers who are amused by Google's motto, "Don't be evil," may not be laughing for long. Today's best law firms aim to manage themselves like businesses. But a few gadflies have taken to pointing out that, in addition to slashing costs, this entails honoring the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, also known as the Ruggie principles…A November paper by the global antipoverty group A4ID argued that it's not enough for law firms to do pro bono work. "Without denigrating the value of pro bono," the report declared, the duty to respect "human rights is not satisfied by philanthropy." Most provocatively, the paper called on law firms to develop policies for dealing with evil clients…The A4ID paper sees support for this approach in ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct 2.1, which requires lawyers to give "independent and candid" advice, with possible reference to moral, social, economic, and political considerations.