Emily B. Holland

Emily is a member of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett’s Sustainability and ESG Practice, based in the Washington D.C. office, and a four-time Chambers recognized practitioner in Global Business & Human Rights Law (including 2024). She advises the world’s leading business organizations, including financial institutions, private equity firms and public and private corporations, on novel and complex issues arising from an emerging area of law and regulation, competing stakeholder mandates, and evolving business priorities that impact companies’ ability to execute their ESG strategy and create long-term value. Her work covers matters relating to ESG and impact investing, sustainable finance debt offerings and credit facilities, securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions, disclosure and reporting, and ESG-related litigation. Emily has extensive experience advising on human rights matters across governance, due diligence, supply chain compliance, crisis management and remediation. She has also advised governments, intergovernmental organizations and NGOs on human and labor rights issues and the broader sustainability agenda. She is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center.

Focusing primarily on social and governance matters, Emily aids her clients in navigating ESG risk across a variety of industries. She has also advised governments, intergovernmental organizations and NGOs on human and labor rights issues and the broader sustainability agenda.

Experience includes:

• Apax Partners US, LLC on its acquisition of Bazooka Candy Brands
• Apollo Global Management in its strategic minority investment in PetSmart, forming a partnership with PetSmart’s existing majority owner, BC Partners
• Blackstone in its acquisition of International Gemological Institute
• CAVA in its $340 million IPO
• Cisco Systems Inc. on its $28 billion Splunk acquisition
• TPG Rise Climate in its pending acquisition of AmSpec Group
• Mars, Incorporated on its $2.5 billion multi-tranche Rule 144A notes offering, including inaugural offering of sustainability notes, and on its acquisition of Kevin’s Natural Foods
• Johnson Controls in its €800 million senior notes offering
• Owens-Brockway Glass Container Inc. and OI European Group B.V. in their concurrent green bond offerings and tender offers
• Advising private equity clients in navigating evolving investor requirements and expectations, ongoing reporting requirements, and regulatory and legal developments impacting private fund investment strategies
• Assisting private equity fund portfolio companies on the design or internal reviews of ESG and sustainability committee charters, policies and processes informed by applicable law, soft law instruments and sector-specific standards, frameworks and initiatives
• Advising issuers and underwriters across industries on green, social, sustainability and sustainability-linked bonds, loans and other financings, including on the drafting of sustainable finance frameworks and second party opinions
• Pre-IPO, helping companies position themselves to reflect sustainability strategies and evaluate their relative strengths and opportunities
• Advising purpose-driven companies and investors on issues relating to public benefit corporation incorporation and B Lab certification
• Advising on the application and requirements of sustainability-related laws and regulations, including the Corporate Sustainability Disclosure Regulation (CSRD), proposed Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), US Conflict Minerals Rule, EU Conflict Minerals Regulation, global modern slavery and human rights due diligence and reporting statutes, emissions reporting standards under California disclosure law, and proposed emissions reporting standards under SEC regulation
• Advising companies across geographies and sectors on voluntary sustainability reporting and disclosure, including the selection of frameworks and disclosures relating to net zero or carbon neutrality goals
• Advising companies across geographies and sectors in navigating sustainability-focused shareholder activism, green/social washing and green hushing claims, and transnational litigation
• Advising on a broad range of human rights-related needs including strategic and legal advice in respect of human rights-focused trade laws and regulatory focus, and with human rights-related due diligence, monitoring and grievance mechanisms
• Advising multiple clients on potential exposure pursuant to recently-passed US state laws targeting ESG-based activity (anti-ESG investment and anti-boycott measures)
• Advising public companies on sustainability reporting, human rights disclosures and related shareholder liability issues
• Advising companies in relation to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) compliance and enforcement, including via supply chain mapping, risk assessment, supplier screening, due diligence and evidence collection; review and improvement of internal controls and oversight systems in the company’s operations and supply chain; input on communication strategies; and assessing the availability of new technologies as an emerging element of regulatory compliance programs

Experience prior to joining Simpson includes:

• For a global technology company, providing multi-jurisdictional ESG-related legislative and regulatory analysis and litigation and reputational risk analysis including human rights risk and impact assessments and due diligence across the Americas, AMEA and APAC
• Producing for an intergovernmental body a detailed report on human and labor rights landscape in a country to inform an assessment in respect of certain trade arrangements
• Representation of companies that have faced exposure or litigation in relation to human rights impacts, such as under the Alien Tort Statute, CATSCA and Trafficking Victims Protection Act, as well as OECD National Contact Points complaints
• Drafting a grievance mechanism to address issues related to freedom of expression and privacy in accordance with the UNGP effectiveness criteria

Emily has written and presented extensively on ESG issues. In 2011, she co-authored a book on the experience of child soldiers in Liberia and a Liberian woman who became their champion, which was endorsed by Gloria Steinem. She is the recipient of Princeton in Africa’s inaugural Outstanding Alumni Award (2019) and The Bishop’s School’s Young Alumni Award (2009), and has been recognized by the D.C. Bar for her pro bono efforts.