International Rule of Law

The firm has developed a strong partnership with the pro bono law firm Public International Law & Policy Group (“PILPG”), and this relationship continued in 2023. PILPG provides free legal assistance to parties in peace negotiations, war crimes prosecution, transitional justice, and similar efforts, and serves as a prominent thought leader in this often fraught space. Gibson Dunn has worked with PILPG on a variety of projects, and we have developed a particularly close collaboration on issues related to the war in Ukraine. For example, we played a lead role in PILPG’s Ukraine Memorialization and Accountability Initiative, an effort to preserve direct testimony from individuals who witnessed potential atrocity crimes in Ukraine.

Gibson Dunn has been fortunate to work with a valued thought leader like PILPG to provide support to a number of jurisdictions in connection with post-conflict peacekeeping and rule of law development. In the last year alone, the Firm partnered with PILPG on projects promoting rule of law and international human rights around the globe, including assisting with efforts to memorialize potential war crimes and atrocities committed in Ukraine, drafting peace negotiations briefing materials related to conflicts in several regions, analyzing transitional justice processes and avenues for conflict resolution in Africa, and supporting efforts to promote mediation and peaceful conflict resolution, among other projects.

Gibson Dunn has developed a strong pro bono relationship with the Clooney Foundation for Justice (“CFJ”) over many years. Among other projects, attorneys across the Firm’s offices are collaborating with CFJ’s TrialWatch Project to advocate for fair trials around the world and guard against sham trials. TrialWatch is an innovative global initiative that monitors criminal trials against some of the most vulnerable groups worldwide, provides free legal support for innocent people who are wrongfully imprisoned, and advocates for legal reform. TrialWatch has monitored trials in dozens of countries, with a focus on trials involving journalists, women and girls, democracy defenders, LGBTQ+ people and activists, and religious and ethnic minorities. Gibson Dunn has analyzed the fairness of trials, as assessed against international human rights law standards, in a broad array of jurisdictions, ranging from Pakistan to Russia. In addition, we have collaborated with CFJ to advocate before United Nations and regional mechanisms on behalf of human rights defenders and journalists whose right to a fair trial has been violated.

The International Senior Lawyers Project (“ISLP”) provides pro bono legal assistance to governments and civil society organizations to build robust legal frameworks that align with international best practices. In 2023, Gibson Dunn collaborated with ISLP to deliver a one-week workshop in Guyana on international arbitration procedure. The workshop in Guyana was developed in partnership with the Attorney General’s Chambers and the Ministry of Legal Affairs and included 30 participants from various areas of Guyana’s government as well as the Guyana Bar Association.