"Supporting African advisers on responsible business: A&O and A4ID partner with the East Africa Law Society to deliver workshops for African lawyers on business and human rights"

Alongside rapid economic growth and thriving investment in East Africa, there is increasing demand for responsible business practices and corporate accountability when things go wrong. To help legal advisers navigate human rights risks and opportunities for business, Allen & Overy (A&O), and an award-winning development law charity, Advocates for International Development (A4ID), have teamed up with the East Africa Law Society (EALS) to provide free workshops on business and human rights for lawyers in Uganda and Tanzania.

The peer-to-peer workshops...will continue dialogue with East African lawyers about the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, a globally agreed standard on managing human rights impacts linked to business activity...The workshops will draw on practical examples, including from the extractive and manufacturing industries, which are particularly relevant for African lawyers advising business...

Together with A4ID, the workshops combine the expertise of A&O’s Africa Group and Human Rights Working Group, drawing on over 250 lawyers throughout the firm’s network of 44 offices.  Over the past 25 years, the A&O Africa Group, together with selected local counsel, has advised clients on numerous large scale international transactions across the continent, providing an integrated service for clients doing business in Africa. Further workshops are planned for lawyers in Burundi, Kenya and Zanzibar later in the year.