Douglass CASSEL

Professor Douglass Cassel is a globally recognized expert on business and human rights, international human rights and criminal law, and public international law. He advises and represents corporate, governmental and non-governmental clients in matters before regional human rights courts and commissions, United Nations human rights bodies, the International Criminal Court, National Contact Points under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, national courts, international arbitrations, the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, and in international treaty negotiations and peace negotiations.

Chambers & Partners 2025 recognizes Cassel as a “Global Market Leader” (band 2) in Business and Human Rights Law. Respondents informed Chambers that Cassel is “simply one of the best lawyers I have ever worked with” … “Doug has both the intellectual depth of a professor, but is also a very good practitioner. He has a solid legal brain, is bilingual, versatile and extremely open-minded. He is a true thought leader” … “He is very practical, extremely knowledgeable and has made substantial contributions to the field.” Earlier, Chambers noted, “An impressed client reports: ‘He is an immense asset to the legal profession and to his firm.’’’

Since 2022 Professor Cassel serves as inaugural Co-Chair of the global Business and Human Rights Lawyers Association (BHRLA). He frequently speaks at meetings of the BHRLA, the International Bar Association, and the International Chamber of Commerce, among others.

Professor Cassel advises and provides training to companies on the adoption of policies and procedures on business and human rights, including human rights and environmental due diligence and risk avoidance in their operations and value chains. He also helps resolve claims of adverse impacts by claimants, shareholders and ESG rating agencies.

Cassel has represented or advised international law experts, former United States diplomats, and other 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 of the New York City Bar Association, representing former judges, prosecutors, journalists, human rights advocates and electoral candidates unjustly accused of crimes by corrupt and authoritarian regimes in Central America.

Professor Cassel is a member of the editorial board of the American Bar Association’s Key Business and Human Rights Documents. His 2023 article for the International Chamber of Commerce Institute of World Business Law, The ‘Hardening’ and ‘Broadening’ of Norms on Business and Human Rights, is a panoramic analysis of the field.

Prior to joining King & Spalding in 2018, Professor Cassel taught and published, most recently at Notre Dame Law School, as a tenured full professor and Notre Dame Presidential Fellow. He has also taught at leading universities in Belgium, England, Hungary, Mexico and Spain, and lectured at many others. He has published more than one hundred scholarly articles and reviews, including in such journals as the Business and Human Rights Journal and the Business Ethics Quarterly.

Professor Cassel authored the chapter on jurisdiction in the Research Handbook on Human Rights and Business (Edward Elgar Pub. 2020), updated in 2024. On behalf of the American Bar Association’s Human Rights Center and the Law Society of England and Wales, he was principal author of the White Paper: Options for a Treaty on Business and Human Rights (2015).

Professor Cassel is experienced in investigations, negotiations and diplomacy. He was Legal Advisor to the United Nations Truth Commission for El Salvador; investigated military massacres in Colombia and Thailand; and chaired an independent international panel investigating paramilitary killings in Northern Ireland. Colombia’s Nobel Laureate President Juan Manuel Santos called on him to help negotiate the transitional justice provisions of the 2016 peace treaty with FARC guerrillas. President Santos later awarded Cassel the highest honor Colombia confers on foreign civilians.

Cassel is a former president of the Due Process of Law Foundation. He was elected four times by the Organization of American States to serve on the Board of the Justice Studies Center of the Americas, which he served as president.

Professor Cassel is an honors graduate of Yale College and Harvard Law School.