The Center on Corporations, Law & Society at Seattle University School of Law conducts and promotes interdisciplinary scholarship and dialogue on issues related to the roles and obligations of corporations in an increasingly privatized and interdependent global society. In addition to serving as a platform for enhanced scholarly inquiry, the Center provides a forum for sustained discussion among academics, legal practitioners, business leaders, activists, policy makers and community members on the complex and important relationships between business enterprises and their many stakeholders.

Questions regarding corporations and their roles as dominant societal actors, though hardly new, are more salient today than ever before. A confluence of recent events, including the 1999 World Trade Organization protests in Seattle; several high-profile accounting fraud scandals at major corporations; sweeping changes in the regulatory landscape to corporate governance standards; significant domestic economic downturns; and dramatic national and international policy responses to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, has trained the attention of business leaders, public officials, scholars, law practitioners, employees, and citizens on issues regarding the roles and obligations of corporations in an increasingly privatized and interdependent global society.

Consistent with Seattle University School of Laws commitment to academic distinction, open inquiry and social responsibility, the Center on Corporations, Law & Society was established to foster non-partisan, interdisciplinary scholarship and dialogue about the extent to which powerful corporate institutions in our society operate in a manner that maximizes their positive contributions while simultaneously protecting the interests of consumers, shareholders, employees, the environment and other fundamental public interest values. In keeping with Seattle University School of Laws mission to promote learning in law as the cornerstone of effective democracy, the new Center on Corporations, Law & Society strives to contribute to our collective understanding of the issues relating to corporations in society while also serving as a meaningful resource to those working on the front lines of these evolving issues.

The Center´s primary goals include: