HRTS 510 · Business and Human Rights, Gare Smith

Gare Smith is a Partner and Chair of the Global Business & Human Rights practice at Foley Hoag LLP, which he founded to help corporations and governments align their business practices with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Recognized by Chambers Global as "a legendary name in the field" for his pioneering work in Human Rights Impact Assessments, he advises clients in banking, extractive, technology, manufacturing, private equity, and retail sectors on integrating respect for human and labour rights into their management practices and supply chains.

Gare served as Co-Chair of the U.S. State Department's Advisory Committee on Responsible Business Conduct. Earlier in his career, he was appointed by the White House as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, where he helped launch President Clinton's Model Business Principles and served as a U.S. representative to the International Labor Organization, the UN Human Rights Commission, and the UN Working Group on Indigenous Peoples. He also served as Senior Foreign Policy Advisor and Counsel to Senator Edward M. Kennedy and as Vice President of a major global clothing brand, overseeing worldwide implementation of its code of conduct.