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Gare A. Smith
Partner
Washington, D.C.
Drawing on his extensive corporate and public policy experience, Gare Smith has played a key role in developing the firm's corporate social responsibility and risk management practice to help clients adopt strategic policies to address the challenges of globalization. He advises corporations and nations on legal, political, and economic aspects of globalization and crisis management, including developing codes of conduct, compliance programs, and monitoring systems. He also helps clients design international trade and investment strategies, and create partnerships with governments, international organizations, and stakeholders.
Gare helps a wide variety of clients, including manufacturers, retailers, and members of the extractive industries, to integrate respect for internationally recognized human/worker rights and environmental standards into their management practices. In so doing, he addresses business risks in a manner that safeguards clients' reputations and brands. A crucial aspect of this approach is instructing clients on the best problem-solving approaches to use with interacting with U.S. and international governments, media, unions and non-governmental organizations.
With a particular emphasis on crisis management, Gare provides clients with country-specific analyses of the risks and issues associated with fundamental human rights issues, and helps them implement compliance procedures benchmarked on best practices worldwide. That includes guidance on proactive programs to address labor conditions, environmental stewardship, community relations, asset security, indigenous rights, political stability, and the rule of law. He also helps clients respond to some of the most contentious global business issues, including boycotts, divestment campaigns, and conflicts with local communities.
Gare previously served as Vice President of one of the world's most recognized clothing manufacturers, with responsibility for global implementation of the company's code of conduct and government relations. In the public sector he served as Senior Foreign Policy Advisor and Counsel to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, advising the senator on trade, human rights, and national security issues and helping create the first voluntary code of conduct for U.S. multinationals. He was appointed by the White House to serve as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. His accomplishments in this role included helping to launch President Clinton's Model Business Principles, advising the apparel industry on creation of a code of conduct and independent monitoring system, and serving as a U.S. representative to the International Labor Organization, the U.N. Human Rights Commission, and the U.N. Working Group on Indigenous Peoples.
Following his graduation from law school, Gare was a judicial clerk for the Honorable Kenneth K. Hall, U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.
Bars and Court Admissions
Maryland
District of Columbia
U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland
U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit
U.S. Court of International Trade
professional / civic involvement
Board of Directors: The International Campaign for Tibet
Board of Advisors: The University of Michigan Law School, Center for International and Comparative Law; The Global Works Foundation
Board of Trustees: The Institute for Asian Democracy
Member: The Fund for Peace, Human Rights and Business Roundtable
SPEECHES AND CONFERENCES
Keynote Speeches
"Energy Projects in Conflict Zones: Human Rights Issues and Responsibilities," The International Bar Association, Calgary, Canada, September 19, 2004
"The BTC Pipeline Project: Following Through with Global Compact Commitments," U.N. Global Compact Forum, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, December 11, 2003
"Human Rights and Responsibilities in the 21st Century: A Corporate Perspective," The John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, November 21, 2000
"Corporate Codes of Conduct and the Promotion of Labor Rights in Cuba," The National Policy Association, Mexico City, Mexico, June 16, 2000
"Globalization with a Human Face: New Groundrules for a New Era," World Affairs Council/United Nations.
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