Context
The structural relationships between sound governance, clear accountability and solid economic growth are now acknowledged by most people to be axiomatic. A corporation can no longer rely on the concealment of its irresponsible or illegal behaviour from its shareholders; its board cannot be certain of impunity when such behaviour emerges or is discovered. The recent litigation between a group of Nigerians and Shell in New York is one key example of the emergence of law and international litigation as developmental tools. The law may be used to modify corporate behaviour where necessary or appropriate.
Correspondingly, a government which acts disproportionately or in breach of the rights of a particular group can now expect that its actions may have wider impacts, in courtrooms either within or outside its borders;
And similarly, international institutions, in particular those who provide finance or export credit insurance now find it increasingly difficult to evade responsibility for the social and economic consequences of their lending decisions.
Protimos lawyers see this evolution towards good governance as fundamental to the development of sound social economies, in which all sectors of society may make contributions according to their own lights.
Development lawyers
The ‘development lawyer’ has a pivotal role to play, in ensuring that the law is used as an effective weapon against corruption and its bedfellows, marginalisation and impoverishment. A social and economic carcinogen, grand or petty corruption slackens and erodes development of all kinds.
Our work
Our lawyers have:
- provided legal perspectives on anti-corruption measures, through the delivery of tailored educational workshops, designed to be culturally appropriate, delivered in the recipient/student’s language, with clearly identified and achievable objectives. We have successfully delivered such workshop programmes in Kurdistan, Iraq, South Africa, and Lesotho.
- drafted opinions and provided advice to major NGOs, concerning the legality of funding and other financial support for major infrastructure projects where environmental and human rights are engaged.
- provided advisory work, as part of the consultation process, to major funding institutions.
- published papers, lectured and broadcast on anti-corruption jurisprudence, and its wider implications.
- We are now expanding this programme, to enable us to offer the unique skills of our development lawyers for use by a wider constituency.