Claire Bright

Associate Professor

claire.bright@novalaw.unl.pt
Biographical Note | Pedagogical Experience | Main Publications | Research Areas

Claire Bright is Associate Professor in Private Law as well as the Founder and Director of the NOVA Centre on Business, Human Rights and the Environment at NOVA Law School in Lisbon. She is also an Associate Research Fellow at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law. She specialises in Sustainable Corporate Governance, Private International Law, International Commercial Law, Comparative Private Law and Business and Human Rights. She holds a PhD in International Law from the European University Institute in Florence, an LL.M in Private International Law and International Commercial Law from La Sorbonne Law School and a Double Bachelor’s degree in French and English Laws from UPEC.

Before joining the faculty at NOVA School of Law, she worked as a Research Assistant at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies of the University of Oxford, an Associate lecturer at Oxford Brookes University and as a Lecturer at the London School of Business and Management. She was also a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute of Florence.

She regularly organizes short courses, events and trainings in the fields of Sustainable Corporate Governance, Business and Human Rights, Women’s Rights and Gender Equality as well as Climate Change Law. Her work to date has resulted in numerous publications of peer-reviewed scientific publications in English, French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish, including in the following journals: the “International and Comparative Law Quarterly”, “Business and Politics”, “Sustainability”, the “Business and Human Rights Journal”, the “European Yearbook on Human Rights”, “Nederlands Internationaal Privaatrecht”, “Droit Social”, the “Revista Española de Derecho Internacional” and the “Anuario Español de Derecho Internacional Privado”. She has also contributed to various expert studies and policy reports for NGOs, Governments, as well as European and International organizations including:

  • A 2019 study for the European Parliament on Access to legal remedies for victims of corporate human rights abuses in third countries.
  • A 2020 study for the European Commission on due diligence requirements through the supply chains. On 29 April 2020, based on the findings of the study, EU Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders announced that the European Commission will launch a legislative initiative on mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence at the EU level in 2021.
  •  A 2020 study for the 11.11.11 and the Working Group on Corporate Accountability on the Options for Mandatory Human Rights due diligence in Belgium  Available here
  • A 2021 mapping (in English and in French) of the Human Rights due diligence regulations and an evaluation of their contribution in upholding labour standards in global supply chains prepared as part of a research compendium for the International Labour Organization (ILO) with the support of the Government of France, and published in G. Delautre, E. Echeverría Manrique and C. Fenwick, Decent work in globalised economy: Lessons from public and private initiatives, ILO 2021, 75-108
  • A 2021 legal brief (in Portuguese and in English) on Human Rights and environmental due diligence prepared for the Instituto Marquês de Valle Flôr (IMVF) as part of the Pan-European campaign OurFood.OurFuture implemented in Portugal by IMVF.
  • A 2021 study on trade policy and child labour entitled “50 Billions Euros: Europe’s Child Labor Footprint in 2019”, prepared for the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament, June 10 2021. Available here

Bachelor’s degree (1st Cycle):

  • Contract Law
  • European Law
  • Property Law

Master’s degree (2nd Cycle):

  • Business, Human Rights and Sustainability
  • International Commercial Law
  • Risk Management in Financial Contracts

Claire Bright was awarded the eLearning Practitioner Prize in 2016 for use of innovative methodologies in the development and delivery of undergraduate courses at the London School of Business and Management.

Monograph

  • “L’accès à la Justice Civile en cas de Violations des Droits de L’homme par des Entreprises Multinationales [Access to Civil Justice and Corporate Human Rights Violations]. [Online], Cadmus. Florence: European University Institute, 2013. Available here

Policy Reports

  • “50 Billions Euros: Europe’s Child Labor Footprint in 2019″, Study on trade policy and child labour prepared for the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament, June 10 2021, 1 – 181. Availabe here
  • “Mapping human rights due diligence regulations and evaluating their contribution in upholding labour standards in global supply chains”, prepared as part of a research compendium for the International Labour Organization (ILO) with the support of the Government of France and published in G. Delautre, E. Echeverría Manrique and C. Fenwick, Decent work in globalised economy: Lessons from public and private initiatives, ILO 2021, 75-108. Availabe here. Also available in French.
  • “Panorama du cadre normatif relatif au devoir de vigilance en matière de droits de l’homme dans les chaînes d’approvisionnement mondiales”, published in the 2020 study by Entreprises pour les droits de l’Homme (Edh) entitled ‘Etude: Application de la Loi sur le devoir de vigilance – Plans de vigilance parus en 2019-2020’, December 2020, 11-13. Availabe here
  • “Options for Mandatory Human Rights Due Diligence in Belgium”, Study for the 11.11.11 and the Working Group on Corporate Accountability, June 2020, co-authored with Diana Lica, Axel Marx, and Geert Van Calster. Available here.
  • “Study on due diligence requirements through the supply chain”, Study for the European Commission, February 2020, 1-572, co-authored with Lise Smit, Robert McCorquodale, Matthias Bauer, Hanna Deringer, Daniela Baeza-Breinbauer, Francisca Torres-Cortés, Frank Alleweldt, Senda Kara, Camille Salinier and Héctor Tejero Tobed. Study composed of the following 5 publications (total 1,172 pages):
  • “Access to legal remedy for victims of corporate human rights abuses in third countries”, Study requested by the European Parliament’s Sub-Committee on Human Rights, co-authored with Axel Marx and Jan Wouters. Available here.

Journal Articles

  • “Risk-Based Due Diligence, Climate Change, Human Rights and the Just Transition”, Sustainability, (accepted for publication), forthcoming 2021, co-authored with Karin Buhmann. Available here.
  • “Private International Law issues in the Second Draft of the legally binding instrument on Business and Human Rights”, 39/1 Nederlands Internationaal Privaatrecht [Dutch Journal of Private International Law] (2021), 35-52, co-authored with Maria Chiara Marullo and Francisco Javier Zamora Cabot.
  • “Empresas, Derechos Humanos y la COVID-19: El deber del estado de proteger la salud laboral y el empleo’ [Business, Human Rights and COVID-19: The State Duty to Protect Workers’ Health and Employment]”, Revista Española de Derecho Internacional (REDI) [Spanish Review of International Law], Sección Foro, Vol. 73/1, 2021, 319-328, co-authored with Nicolas Bueno and Irene Pietropaoli.
  • “Implementing Human Rights Due Diligence Through Corporate Civil Liability”, 69(4) International & Comparative Law Quarterly (2020), 789-818, co-authored with Nicolas Bueno.
  • “Towards a corporate duty for lead companies to respect human rights in their global value chains?”, 22(4) Business and Politics (2020), 667-697, co-authored with Axel Marx, Nina Pineau and Jan Wouters.
  • “Business views on mandatory human rights due diligence regulation: a comparative analysis of two recent studies”, co-authored with L. Smit, I. Pietropaoli, P. Hood and J. Hughes Jennett Business and Human Rights Journal (2020).
  • “Corporate Accountability Mechanisms in EU Member Stats for Human Rights Abuses in Third Countries”, European Yearbook of Human Rights, 2019, 157-185, co-authored with A. Marx, N. Pineau and J. Wouters.
  • “Le devoir de diligence de la société mère dans la jurisprudence anglaise ‘[The Duty of Due Diligence of the Parent Company in English case-law]”, 10 Droit Social, 2017, 828-833.
  • “La excepción de orden público internacional como fundamento de denegación del reconocimiento del repudio islámico’ [The public policy exception to the recognition of foreign judgments on islamic “talaq”]”, Anuario español de derecho internacional privado [Spanish Yearbook of Private International Law] 2010, 717-729.

Book Chapters

  • “Mandatory Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence Legislation”, co-authored with Nicolas Bueno, in Anthony Ewig (ed.), Teaching Business and Human Rights, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., forthcoming 2022.
  • “Access to Justice for Corporate Human Rights Harms: Private International Law and Criminal Law Considerations”, co-authored with Athina Sachoulidou, in Estudos em Homenagem a Professora Doutora Maria Helena Brito [Studies in Honour of Professor Maria Helena Brito], forthcoming, 2021.
  • “Holding Companies to Account for Human Rights Abuses in Third Countries: Why is it so difficult?”, in Ana Luiza da Gama e Souza, Lara Denise Góes da Costa and Letícia Helena Medeiros Velosos (eds.), Direitos Humanos, Paz, Sustentabilidade e Empresas Globais, REDHIPAS, 2021.
  • “Hardening Soft Law: the Implementation of the Human Rights Due Diligence Requirements in Domestic Legislations”, co-authored with Chiara Macchi, in M. Buscemi, N. Lazzerini, L. Magi and D. Russo (eds.), Legal Sources in Business and Human Rights: Evolving Dynamics in International and European Law (Brill, 2020), 218-247.
  • “L’accès à la justice et les droits fondamentaux des travailleurs: aspects de droit international privé’ [Access to Justice and Fundamental Workers’ Rights: Private International Law Aspects]”, co-authored with Professor Marie-Ange Moreau, In Isabelle Daugareilh (ed.), L’accès à la justice sociale: La place du juge et des corps intermédiaires, Approche compatative et internationale(Bruylant, 2019), 213-233.
  • “The Civil Liability of the Parent Company for the Acts or Omissions of Its Subsidiary: The Example of the Shell Cases in the UK and in the Netherlands”, in A. Bonfanti (ed.) Business and Human Rights in Europe: International Law Challenges (Routledge, 2018), 212-222.
  • “The ONIAM Model”, co-authored with C. Hodges, in S. Macleod and C. Hodges (eds.), Redress Schemes for Personal Injuries (Hart Publishing, 2017), 427-437.
  • “Quelques réflexions à propos de l’affaire Shell aux Pays-Bas’ [Some Reflections on the Shell Case in the Netherlands], in Société française pour le droit international, L’entreprise multinationale et le droit international (A. Pédone, 2016), 127-142.
  • ‘The Implications of the Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Case for the Exercise of Extraterritorial Jurisdiction”, In A. Di Stefano, C. Salamone and A. Coci (eds.), A Lackland Law? Territory, Effectiveness and Jurisdiction in International and EU Law (Giappichelli, 2015), 165-181.

Other publications

  • “Diligência Devida Em Matéria de Direitos Humanos e Ambiente’ [Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence]”, Legal brief prepared for the Instituto Marquês de Valle Flôr (IMVF) as part of the Pan-European campaign OurFood.OurFuture, implemented in Portugal by IMVF, March 2021, 1-16, also available in English.
  • “Panorama du cadre normatif relatif au devoir de vigilance en matière de droits de l’homme dans les chaînes d’approvisionnement mondiales”, published in the 2020 study by Entreprises pour les droits de l’Homme (Edh) entitled ‘Etude: Application de la Loi sur le devoir de vigilance – Plans de vigilance parus en 2019-2020, December 2020, 11-13.
  •  “Creating a legislative level-playing field in Business and Human Rights at the European level: is the French Duty of Vigilance Law the way forward?”, EUI Working Paper, EUI MWP 2020.01, 1-10.
  • “L’esercizio extraterritoriale della giurisdizione civile con riferimento ai gravi violazioni dei diritti umani da parte delle imprese’ [The Exercise of Extraterritorial Civil Jurisdiction in Relation to Serious Human Rights Violations Committed by Multinational Corporations]”, (2015/44 EUI Working Papers, 2015), 1-10.
  • “Corporations and Social Environmental Justice: the Role of Private International Law”, co-authored with Dr Benedict Wray, In Antoine Duval and Marie-Ange Moreau (eds.). Towards Social Environmental Justice?. (EUI Working Papers, 2012), 75-94.
  • Sustainable Corporate Governance
  • Business and Human Rights
  • ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) Risk and Compliance
  • Private International Law
  • International Commercial Law
  • Comparative Private Law

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