Jon Drimmer,
Partner, Litigation, Paul Hastings LLP

Jonathan C. Drimmer is Co-Chair of the ESG Risk, Strategy, and Compliance practice based in Washington, D.C. office of Paul Hastings. He is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading attorneys on business and human rights, and is a frequent speaker, author and commentator on human rights, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights (VPs), the UK Modern Slavery Act, and Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) issues more generally.

Mr. Drimmer regularly represents and advises companies, governments, multi-stakeholder initiatives, NGOs, and others on business and human rights-related legal issues. His practice spans all aspects of business and human rights and includes companies across a wide range of sectors, including agricultural, consumer goods, and food and beverage companies. Over his career, he has conducted or overseen hundreds of human rights and international humanitarian law-related investigations across numerous issues and geographies. He has represented and counseled companies involved in disputes in scores of judicial and non-judicial forums, such as transnational tort cases, OECD National Contact Point Specific Instances, UN Special Procedures inquiries, and human rights commission claims. 

He has advised companies and governments on cutting-edge legislative and regulatory initiatives and Parliamentary and Congressional inquiries. He has performed many human rights assessments and due diligence exercises associated with transactions, business changes, or operational performance. He has assisted in establishing governance frameworks, management systems, and compliance programs for a wide range of entities, including companies, NGOs, and multi-stakeholder initiatives. He regularly reviews non-financial disclosures on human rights and ESG to assess potential litigation and reputational risks.

He is the former Deputy General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Barrick Gold, one of the world’s largest mining companies.  At Barrick, he developed among the first global human rights programs after the groundbreaking adoption of the UNGPs.  He thus is perhaps the only private practitioner to have designed, implemented, and overseen a global human rights program regulatory for a major multi-national company.

Based on his body of work, Mr. Drimmer has been recognized as one of the world’s leading attorneys in ethics and compliance by Ethisphere Magazine, was selected by the National Law Journal as Regulatory & Compliance Trailblazer, was recognized by Legal Era as one of the top 100 in-house counsel in the world, and was selected by Law500 as one of the 100 most influential in-house counsel in the U.S. and Canada. He has served on the boards of directors of the Global Compact Network Canada, the UN Global Compact Business for Peace initiative, and the VPs. He is a Strategic Advisor for the Secretariat of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, a Senior Advisor to BSR, and the North American Advisor to the Global Business Initiative on Human Rights (GBI). He is on the faculty of Competent Boards, which trains board members on Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues. He has taught courses at Georgetown Law Center for nearly 20 years.

Recent Speaking Engagements & Publications

• The Integration of Business and Human Rights Into International Regulatory Compliance (Series (2020-21)
• Our Top 10 +1 Predicted Business and Human Rights Issues for 2022* (December 2021)
• White House Releases 2021 National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking (December 2021)
• Responsible Product Usage Risk Factors Ahead of the EU Corporate Accountability and Due Diligence Directive – May 20th, 2021
• EU Ratcheting Up The Heat on Sustainability Reporting – May 7th, 2021