Douglass Cassel

• Advised CEO’s and corporate officers on International Criminal Law, International Humanitarian Law, and International Human Rights Law issues arising from operations in a war zone in the Middle East. The clients followed our advice and were not subsequently sued or prosecuted.
• Advised a Fortune 50 company on securing Free, Prior and Informed Consent (“FPIC”) of indigenous communities near a lithium mine. The company reported making “great strides … using the good work and recommendations from your memo.”
• Advised a G20 government on its position in advisory proceedings on climate change before the International Court of Justice.
• Successfully represented a Fortune 150 company in opposing inclusion on the United Nations list of companies materially supporting unlawful settlements in the West Bank.

Advisory: Companies

• Advised a Fortune 50 financial company on a complaint against it filed with a National Contact Point of the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises.
• Advised a major Japanese multinational company on a complaint against it filed with a National Contact Point of the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises.
• Advised a Fortune 25 company on heightened human rights due diligence in Conflict Affected and High Risk Areas (“CAHRA”).
• Advised an energy company on human rights risks and standards for green bonds.
• Advised an energy company on human rights risks and standards for carbon credits.
• Advised an energy company on a complaint against it before the International Criminal Court. No prosecution was brought.
• Advised a Fortune 25 company on the arbitrary detention by a government of an employee of one of its contractors.
• Advised a United States defense contractor on human rights risks with regard to foreign sales of certain military hardware.
• Advised a global energy company on policy relating to environmental justice.
• Advised an international energy company on improving its human rights policies, procedures and reporting, as well as its rating by the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark.
• Assisted an international metals company in vetting potential expert witnesses and selecting an expert on corporate social responsibility, in a civil litigation concerning a transnational environmental dispute.
• Advised an international energy company on the human rights implications of a personnel matter raising transnational legal issues.

Advisory: Governments

• Advised a G20 government on its position in advisory proceedings on climate change before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
• Advised a government on its position in UN negotiations on a legally binding instrument on business and human rights.
• Advised a government on its position in UN negotiations on a legally binding instrument on plastics pollution.
• Advised a government on its position in negotiations on the UN Convention against Cybercrime.
• Advised a governmental agency on guidelines for its companies in matters of business and human rights.
• Advised a government on potential international law remedies against another State in an armed conflict.
• Advised a Middle Eastern State-owned enterprise concerning potential cross-border human rights issues and claims that could arise from a planned electric power plant.

Representation

• Representing a company whose property was seized and its CEO arbitrarily imprisoned by a Latin America government.
• Represented the Reporter and Advisers to the Restatement of the U.S. Law of International Arbitration, as Amici before the U.S. Supreme Court in GE Energy v. Outokumpu, 140 S. Ct. 1637 (2020) (non-signatories may in some circumstances enforce or be bound by international arbitration agreements)
• Represented former U.S. diplomats and development experts as Amici before the U.S. Supreme Court in Jam v. International Finance Corporation, 142 S. Ct. 2668 (2022). Amici supported judicial review of IFC enforcement of social and environmental conditions on development loans.
• Represented a Fortune 25 company in proceedings before various UN human rights rapporteurs. The client repeatedly called on Cassel over a period of years.
• Represented a Fortune 25 company in several proceedings before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The client repeatedly called on Cassel over a period of years.
• Represented Nicavisión, owner of the last independent television station with nationwide coverage in Nicaragua, before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The Commission granted precautionary measures and the government settled. Clients credited the measures with saving the station.
• Represented the Government of Colombia in negotiations of the transitional justice provisions of peace accords with FARC guerrillas.
• Represented petitioner National United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, Thailand, before the International Criminal Court.

Expert Witness

• Expert witness on rule of law in Nicaragua in an international commercial arbitration against insurance companies for losses in Nicaragua.
• Expert witness on the UN Truth Commission for El Salvador before Spain’s Audiencia Nacional, in the prosecution of former Salvadoran Colonel Inocente Montano for murder of Jesuit priests and two women in El Salvador. Colonel Montano was convicted of terrorist murder and sentenced to prison.
• Expert witness, presented by Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Contreras v. El Salvador (2011) (forced disappearances).
• Testimony as expert before the Constitutional Court of Indonesia on compliance of Indonesia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission Law with international human rights law.
• Expert witness, presented by Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Serrano Cruz Sisters v. El Salvador (2005) (children disappeared during the civil war).

Pro bono

• Before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, representing Juan Holmann Chamorro, Managing Editor of the opposition newspaper La Prensa, in proceedings against the Nicaraguan regime for false imprisonment and gross violations of human rights.
• Before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, representing José Rubén Zamora, the award-winning journalist, editor and founder of El Periodico newspaper, against corrupt judges and prosecutors in Guatemala who falsely convicted, imprisoned and mistreated him.
• Before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, representing the former Attorney General, the former human rights ombudsman, and former judges and prosecutors who fought corruption in Guatemala, against corrupt prosecutors who persecuted them and forced them to flee the country.
• Representing Erika Aifán, formerly a leading anti-corruption judge in Guatemala, before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. In 2021 the State Department awarded her recognition as an “International Woman of Courage.” The matter remains pending.
• Represented Eyvin Hernandez, a U.S. lawyer arbitrarily imprisoned and mistreated by the Maduro regime in Venezuela, before the UN Human Rights Committee.
• Represented Venezuelan political opposition leader Juan Pablo Guanipa before the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, in opposition to his prolonged, incommunicado detention by Venezuelan authorities. He was freed in February 2026.
• Represented the former Mayor of La Paz, Bolivia, in Andrade v. Bolivia, Judgment of Inter-American Court of Human Rights (2016) (Bolivia liable for violations of right to property, freedom of movement and right to trial without undue delay).
• Represented leading Venezuelan dissident in Brewer-Carías v. Venezuela, Judgment of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (2014) and Views of the United Nations Human Rights Committee (2021) (denials of due process and false, politically motivated charges).
• Represented the daughter of Cuban dissident in Payá v. Spain, before the European Court of Human Rights (2014) (challenging refusal of Spain’s National Court to investigate death in Cuba of Oswaldo Payá, prominent Cuban dissident and dual Spanish citizen).
• Represented civilian victims of bombing, Case of the Santo Domingo Massacre vs. Colombia, Judgment of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (2012) (Colombia found liable).
• Represented civilian victims of bombing, Case of the Santo Domingo Massacre vs. Colombia, Judgment of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (2012) (Colombia found liable).
• Represented 26 former U.S. Diplomats as Amici in Samantar v. Yousuf et al., 130 S. Ct. 2278 (2009), arguing that former foreign government officials should not be granted immunity in U.S. courts for torture and extrajudicial execution.
• Represented 25 former U.S. Diplomats as Amici in Boumediene v. Bush and Al Odah v. United States, 128 S. Ct. 2229 (2008), arguing that prisoners in Guantanamo are entitled to judicial review of their detentions.
• Represented International Humanitarian Law Experts as Amici in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557 (2006), arguing that prisoners at Guantanamo are entitled to fair procedures and due process of law.
• Represented Amici Legal and Religious Organizations in Rumsfeld v. Padilla, 542 U.S. 426 (2004), arguing that a U.S. citizen arrested and detained in U.S., and alleged to be “unlawful enemy combatant,” was entitled to be tried or released.
• Represented 28 Career Foreign Service Diplomats in Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. 692 (2004), arguing that human rights litigation in federal courts under Alien Tort Statute is consistent with United States foreign policy.
• Represented the Center for International Human Rights, Northwestern University School of Law, in Proceedings before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Advisory Opinion OC-18, Rights of Undocumented Immigrant Workers (2003).
• Represented the former Venezuelan Foreign Minister in Figueredo v. Venezuela, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (2000) (finding violations of due process and rights of defense in political prosecution of former Foreign Minister of Venezuela).

Professor Douglass Cassel is globally recognized in the fields of business and human rights, international human rights, international criminal and humanitarian law, and public international law. His broad knowledge of international law, coupled with his deep experience before international bodies, enables him to advise companies and executives on how best to avoid international legal risks. Where cross-border claims or conflicts arise, he brings to bear his diplomatic skills to resolve complaints informally. Where needed, he presents vigorous and effective defenses.

Doug assists companies and executives before United Nations human rights bodies, the Inter-American Commission and Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the International Criminal Court, OECD National Contact Points, the U.S. Supreme Court, and in international arbitrations, both Investor-State and commercial.

He advises and provides training to companies on business and human rights policies, including risk-based due diligence in operations and value chains, and rankings by ESG rating agencies.

Doug also advises governments on regulating business and human rights, and in treaty negotiations, peace negotiations, and international law remedies. He advised a G20 government on climate change before the International Court of Justice.

He served as inaugural Co-Chair of the global Business and Human Rights Lawyers Association. He regularly speaks at events of the International Bar Association and the International Chamber of Commerce, among others.

Doug has represented distinguished amici curiae in numerous cases before the United States Supreme Court. He maintains an extensive pro bono practice with the Vance Center for International Justice, representing journalists, former judges, prosecutors, and human rights advocates unjustly accused of crimes by corrupt and authoritarian regimes.

For nearly 30 years, Doug taught and published in law schools, most recently at Notre Dame Law School where he was a Notre Dame Presidential Fellow. He lectures and teaches at leading universities around the world. He has published more than 100 scholarly articles and reviews. His 2023 article for the International Chamber of Commerce, The ‘Hardening’ and ‘Broadening’ of Norms on Business and Human Rights, is a panoramic analysis of the field.

Doug is experienced in investigations, negotiations and diplomacy. He served as Legal Advisor to the United Nations Truth Commission for El Salvador. He was called on by Colombia’s Nobel Laureate President Juan Manuel Santos to help negotiate the transitional justice provisions of the peace treaty with FARC guerrillas. Doug was later awarded the highest honor Colombia confers on foreign civilians.

Doug is a former president of the Due Process of Law Foundation, and of the Justice Studies Center of the Americas, to which he was elected four times by the Organization of American States.