LexCollective, formerly known as the Global Diligence Alliance, is an international network of lawyers, NGOs, and other individuals. The organization focuses on alleged crimes and offenses committed by financial institutions, damage against the environment, human trafficking, child labor, and international crimes including war crimes. ^{1 2}

LexCollective is partnered with several NGOs including the International Federation for Human Rights and Transparency International. ³ LexCollective is funded by private grantmaking foundations including the Ford Foundation and the Open Society Foundations (OSF). ^{4 5}

In March 2022, while under its former name Global Diligence Alliance, LexCollective assisted Sudanese citizens in providing evidence to the French government’s war crimes unit as part of an investigation into French bank BNP Paribas’s possible role in crimes against humanity, such as genocide and torture, in Sudan between 2002 and 2008. ⁶

Background

LexCollective, formerly known as the Global Diligence Alliance, is an international network of lawyers, NGOs, and other individuals. The organization operates via three main programs: the alliance, which connects law firms, lawyers, investigators, and human rights defenders; the academy, which provides training to lawyers, investigators, and NGOs; and the lab, which conducts investigations into potential human rights violations. ¹

LexCollective’s legal focus includes issues such as crimes committed by financial institutions, offenses against the environment, human trafficking, child labor, and international crimes including war crimes. ²

BNP Paribas Case

In March 2022, while under its former name Global Diligence Alliance, LexCollective assisted Sudanese citizens in providing evidence to the French government’s war crimes unit as part of an investigation into French bank BNP Paribas’s possible role in crimes against humanity, such as genocide and torture, in Sudan between 2002 and 2008. ⁶

The Global Diligence Alliance partnered with the International Federation for Human Rights to pursue a criminal case in France against BNP Paribas, in order to provide the alleged victims with “justice and compensation.” ⁶

The French investigation began after a United States case in which BNP Paribas was accused of sanctions violations. ⁷ According to the U.S. Department of Justice, BNP Paribas pled guilty in June 2014 to “conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Trading with the Enemy Act,” via “processing billions of dollars” in transactions through the financial system of the United States “on behalf of Sudanese, Iranian, and Cuban entities subject to U.S. economic sanctions.” ⁸

Affiliated Organizations

LexCollective is partnered with several NGOs including the International Federation for Human Rights (known by the French-language-derived acronym FIDH), an international non-governmental organization that advocates supporting human rights laws that pertain to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948 to uphold all “civil, political, economic, social and cultural” rights. ^{3 9 10}

The organization is also partnered with Transparency International, an international anti-corruption coalition of over 100 chapters worldwide that practices research, advocacy, and campaigning to expose corruption, push for greater government transparency, and lobby for anti-corruption legislation and processes. ^{3 11}

People

Richard Rogers is the co-executive director of LexCollective. He has worked as a United Nations lawyer before multiple war crimes tribunals, was the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s chief legal system monitor in Kosovo, head of legal support for the Appeals Chamber at the UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia, and the principal defender at the UN’s Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. He is currently a member and secretary of the Sri Lanka Monitoring and Accountability Panel. ¹²

Rogers is also a founding partner of Global Diligence LLP, a United Kingdom-based legal advisory firm and a founding member of LexCollective, and executive director of the Climate Counsel, a nonprofit offshoot of Global Diligence LLP. ^{13 14 6}

He is on the advisory board of the Stop Ecocide Campaign and was deputy co-chair of the Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide. ¹⁴

Rogers’ clients have included the U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, and the Libyan Ministry of Justice. He has also testified before the United States Congress House Committee on Foreign Affairs and has spoken at European Parliamentary committees. ¹³

Financials

LexCollective receives most of its revenue from contributions, gifts, and grants. The organization had a total revenue of $817,596 in 2022, $787,608 came from contributions and $29,988 from program services. LexCollective’s total expenses amounted to $698,197 that year, $142,740 of which was used to pay for executive compensation. ¹⁵

Funding

LexCollective, sometimes under the name of Global Diligence Alliance, receives grants from private grantmaking foundations.  The Ford Foundation granted LexCollective, under the name Global Diligence Alliance, $500,000 in July 2023, while the Open Society Foundations granted the organization $29,920 in 2023 to “support a discussion/workshop on crimes in Palestine.” ^{16 5}

1. “Home.” LexCollective. Accessed October 22, 2024. https://www.lexcollective.com/.
2. “Practice Areas.” LexCollective. Accessed October 22, 2024. https://www.lexcollective.com/practiceareas.
3. “The Alliance.” LexCollective. Accessed October 22, 2024. https://www.lexcollective.com/alliance.
4. “146932 – Lexcollective.” Ford Foundation. Accessed October 22, 2024. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/lexcollective-146932/.
5. “Open Society Foundations – Awarded Grants, Scholarships, and Fellowships.” Open Society Foundations. Accessed October 22, 2024. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/past?grant_id=OR2023-91061.
6. Bectarte, Clémence. “Victims provide testimony on BNP Paribas’ alleged role in mass atrocities in Sudan.” March 18, 2022. Accessed October 22, 2024. https://www.fidh.org/en/region/Africa/sudan/sudanese-victims-provide-testimony-to-french-war-crimes-unit-on-bnp.
7. News, BBC. “BNP Paribas to pay $9bn to settle sanctions violations.” BBC News. July 1, 2014. Accessed October 22, 2024. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28099694.
8. “BNP Paribas Agrees to Plead Guilty and to Pay $8.9 Billion for Illegally Processing Financial Transactions for Countries Subject to U.S. Economic Sanctions.” United States Department of Justice. June 30, 2014. Accessed October 22, 2024. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/bnp-paribas-agrees-plead-guilty-and-pay-89-billion-illegally-processing-financial.
9. Mogwe, Alice. “International Federation for Human Rights.” Accessed October 22, 2024. https://www.fidh.org/en/about-us/What-is-FIDH/.
10. “Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” United Nations. Accessed October 22, 2024. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights.
11. “About.” Transparency.org. Accessed October 22, 2024. https://www.transparency.org/en/about.
12. “Richard Rogers.” LinkedIn. Accessed October 22, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-j-rogers-231b88111/?originalSubdomain=nl.
13. “Richard Rogers – Experience.” LinkedIn. Accessed October 22, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-j-rogers-231b88111/details/experience/.
14. “About — Climate Counsel.” Climate Counsel. March 22, 2018. Accessed October 22, 2024. https://www.climatecounsel.org/about-1.
15. “Lexcollective – Nonprofit Explorer.” ProPublica. Accessed October 22, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/873360221.
16. “146932 – Lexcollective.” Ford Foundation. Accessed October 22, 2024. https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/our-grants/awarded-grants/grants-database/lexcollective-146932/.