The Clinic: Corporate social responsability and innovation (RISE)

• Partner: Regional Arbitration Centre OHADAC
• Tutor: Adèle Bourgin 

At a time when sustainable finance is establishing itself as a strategic lever in the face of global climate, social and economic challenges, the way in which financial products, particularly investment funds, are structured, classified and regulated is becoming a major legal and institutional issue. Depending on where the fund is marketed, this classification differs in terms of the regulations in force, particularly in the United Kingdom, the European Union and Switzerland. Given this demanding regulatory environment, similarities and differences can be observed among the rules established in these three regions.

This project examines how these different regions – the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland – are developing their own regulatory frameworks to organise the marketing and classification of investment funds based on sustainability criteria.

It involves a comparative legal examination of the different regulations, as well as an analysis of regulatory developments, particularly at the European level, with the recast of the SFDR, and the consequences that these changes could have for financial players. The project will also include a study of the practices actually adopted by finance professionals.

• Partner: EthiFinance 
• Tutors: Louise Beuloir and Cyann Starck 

The challenges encountered in reaching an ambitious international agreement to address plastic pollution have underscored the role of existing national legal frameworks in delivering tangible outcomes. In France, the corporate duty of vigilance constitutes one of the primary legal mechanisms for understanding and regulating the practices of large companies in relation to the environmental and public health risks associated with plastics throughout their value chains.

Led by Zero Waste France, ClientEarth and Surfrider Foundation Europe, this project seeks to analyse and evaluate, through a comprehensive benchmark, how major agri-food companies integrate plastic-related issues into their duty of vigilance obligations. Clinic students are tasked with reviewing corporate vigilance plans, as well as related policies and voluntary commitments, in order to assess their compliance with legal requirements, the level of transparency they provide, and the adequacy of the measures adopted to prevent plastic-related risks.

The project places particular emphasis on the critical assessment of corporate strategies, especially with regard to reduction at the origin of the supply chain, reuse systems and alternatives to single-use plastics, moving beyond approaches that focus exclusively on waste management or recycling. In doing so, it enables students to engage directly with the practical application of the duty of vigilance in an emerging area of environmental issues, to develop a rigorous legal analytical methodology, and to contribute to strengthening the effectiveness of this mechanism in support of the ecological transition.

• Partner: Zero Waste France, ClientEarth and Surfrider Foundation Europe
• Tutor: Madeleine Tron  

The research project is in partnership with the World Bank’s Office of Suspension and Debarment (OSD), which represents the first level of adjudication in the World Bank’s sanctions system.  

This multidisciplinary research is specifically directed towards supranational remedies and anti-corruption mechanisms that can be used by multilateral development banks. The overall objective is to identify and analyze legal and operational models for custody, governance, and use of funds collected following the imposition of financial sanctions for white-collar offences to inform implementable models for the World Bank’s sanctions system that center on development outcome. This study is conducted through the analysis of procedures and case studies from different jurisdictions (e.g., France, Switzerland, United States…).

• Partner:   World Bank – Office of Suspension and Debarment (OSD)
• Tutor: Elodie Bou Antoun 

Developed with WPD Onshore France, renewable energy producer active in onshore wind, this clinical project tackles a demanding challenge: within the French framework for project assessment and the balancing of interests, impacts are finely identified and mitigated, yet the environmental value created by a wind farm - particularly its climate contribution and local anchoring - remains insufficiently clear at the point where decisions are shaped and stakeholders form their views. The aim is to better illuminate this overall assessment, clearly linking it to public objectives and making it intelligible to both the administration and local communities, thereby strengthening the credibility and acceptability of projects.

Student involvement fully embodies the clinical spirit: a structured legal inquiry immediately tested against a real case and a field partner. Students develop an analytical framework aligned with positive law, test it through study and discussion, and translate it pedagogically, in order to support institutional and public dialogue. This approach trains them to connect principles with evidence, improve the clarity of case files and, more broadly, contribute with rigour and discernment to responsible onshore wind development.

• Partner: WPD Onshore France
• Tutor: Eléna Divry 

Resource Matters is a non-governmental organization that aims to promote policies and good practices to enable the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo to enjoy the benefits of the country's vast natural resources (including gold, tin, tantalum, copper, and cobalt) and reduce those that encourage corruption or other harmful practices. While commercial lithium production has not yet begun, warning signs of corruption have already been identified in the granting and revocation of certain permits. 

To this end, Resource Matters has partnered with the RISE clinic programme to analyze the anti-corruption commitments of companies active in the sector (and their supply chains) and initiate a dialogue with them. Students will first conduct an up-to-date review of due diligence and anti-corruption laws and regulations, before focusing on the commitments made by some of the identified companies and discussing how they are implementing or plan to implement these commitments to limit or mitigate risks.

• Partner: Resource Matters
• Tutor: Mélinée Aprikian