Rachel Chambers

Assistant Professor

Business Law

---

Education/Professional Certification

Ph.D. in Law, University of Essex

LLM, University of Kent

BA/MA in Law, University of Oxford

Areas of Expertise

Business and human rights, corporate social responsibility, international and comparative law, tort law, corporate law, employment and discrimination law.

Biography

Dr. Chambers’ research focuses on business and human rights including corporate accountability mechanisms such as transnational tort litigation and laws mandating human rights disclosure and due diligence by corporations. Prior to joining the UConn School of Business faculty, Dr. Chambers was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at UConn in a collaboration between the Office of the Vice Provost for Research, the School of Business, and the Human Rights Institute.  

Dr. Chambers teaches the courses Corporate Social Responsibility and Accountability and Business Solutions to Societal Challenges, both of which are cross listed between the Human Rights Institute and the School of Business. As Co-Director of the Teaching Business and Human Rights Forum, a body comprising 350 teachers of business and human rights from 140 different countries, Dr. Chambers is actively engaged in business and human rights pedagogy.

Dr. Chambers’ background is in the practice of law. She is a Barrister (England and Wales) with a decade of experience of trial and appeal court advocacy, specialized in employment and discrimination law, personal injuries, and human rights law. She has worked as a consultant for the UN Global Compact and Amnesty International. Before being called the Bar, she worked for corporate social responsibility body, the International Business Leaders Forum.

At UConn, Dr. Chambers serves as Co-Director of the Business and Human Rights Initiative, and on the steering committee of the Human Rights Institute Director’s Gladstein Committee. She advises UConn’s President’s Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility on the advancement of socially responsible policies within the university and she is Social Media Co-editor of the Journal of Human Rights.

Featured Publications

“Judicial Remedy” in Teaching Business and Human Rights (Edward Elgar, 2023)

“Guiding Principle 3: General State Regulatory and Policy Functions” in Research Handbook on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (Edward Elgar 2023) (with Anil Yilmaz Vastardis)

“Toward Corporate Group Accountability” in Research Handbook on Corporate Liability (Edward Elgar 2023) (with Virginia Harper Ho and Gerlinde Berger-Walliser) 

“Litigating Corporate Human Rights Information,” 60(1) American Business Law Journal 111 (2023) 

“Reimagining Corporate Accountability: Going Beyond Human Rights Due Diligence,” 18 New York University Journal of Law and Business (2022) (with Jena Martin) Download Now

“United States: Potential Paths Forward after the Demise of the Alien Tort Statute,” in Civil Remedies and Human Rights in Flux: Key Developments in Selected Jurisdictions (Hart Publishing, 2022) (with Jena Martin)

“The Future of International Corporate Human Rights Litigation: A Transatlantic Comparison,”  58(3) American Business Law Journal 571 (2021) (with Gerlinde Berger-Walliser)

“Parent Company Direct Liability for Overseas Human Rights Violations: Lessons from the U.K. Supreme Court,” 42 University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law 519 (2021) Download Now

 “Human Rights Disclosure and Due Diligence Laws: The Role of Regulatory Oversight in Ensuring Corporate Accountability,” 21 Chicago Journal of International Law 323 (2021) (with Anil Yilmaz Vastardis) Download Now

“Teaching Business and Human Rights During the Pandemic,” 6 Business and Human Rights Journal 135 (2021) (with Anthony Ewing and Meg Roggensack)

Transnational Corporations and Human Rights Overcoming Barriers to Judicial Remedy (Cambridge University Press, 2020)