Distinguished Cox International Law Center Lecture: David B. Sullivan

Add to Calendar: Add to Calendar: 2025-02-20 16:30:00 2025-02-20 17:30:00 Distinguished Cox International Law Center Lecture: David B. Sullivan Event Description David B. Sullivan, U.S. National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines and Senior Adviser for Corporate Social Responsibility at the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, U.S. Department of State, will discuss voluntary standards for responsible business conduct in human rights and other areas. He will contrast these with emerging mandatory standards, particularly in the EU and beyond. Additionally, he will cover the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct, the role of National Contact Points in their implementation, and the work of the U.S. National Contact Point, emphasizing cases brought before it. Speaker Bio David Sullivan was named the U.S. National Contact Point (NCP) for the OECD Guidelines or Multinational Enterprises (on Responsible Business Conduct), and Senior Adviser on Corporate Social Responsibility in November 2021. In this capacity, he promotes business conduct that is not only commercially viable but also conducted in a manner consistent with high standards related to labor, the environment, human rights, and other sustainability factors. The role of the NCP is to promote awareness of the OECD Guidelines, to facilitate their practical application, and to seek to resolve, through mediation or conciliation, disputes or “specific instances” regarding an enterprise’s conduct. Previously, Sullivan was a senior State Department attorney. He joined the Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser in 1998, and since then served as an Attorney-Adviser in offices for international claims, law enforcement, the Western Hemisphere, employment and ethics, human rights, and economic and business affairs. He also served as the senior legal adviser to the U.S. Mission to the UN in Geneva. Sullivan's prior legal work has been with the Department of the Treasury, White & Case, and the Alaska Supreme Court. He has also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Eswatini and worked for IBM. Sullivan has a law degree from Yale Law School, a master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and a bachelor’s degree from Yale College. He is from Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve University School of Law George Gund Hall Room A59, Moot Courtroom 11075 East Blvd., Cleveland, OH 44106 School of Law School of Law America/New_York public