Explain the legal consequences of having a code of conduct for organisers

[BrianGenisio]

I'll preface my question by stating: I want to have a CoC for my group. I agree with the movement, and I'm not trying to introduce FUD. This is a legitimate question.

We've been told by two lawyers that adhering to a document like this creates a "guarantee of a standard of care" and therefore puts us at risk of being held liable should someone get harassed or assaulted at one of our events. The legal advice is that it is riskier for us to have a CoC than not and we shouldn't put something like this in writing.

We are very likely to take that risk for the betterment of the community. That being said, it is hard to go against legal advice that we paid for.

Has this document been looked at by a lawyer? If so, what is the opinion of the lawyer? Does it differ than the advice we were given? Or is this the (small) price we pay for being an organizer, and it is well known: We incur risk, and that is OK?

Thoughts?

[remy]

This is entirely my opinion, does not pass as legal advice (etc disclaimer): you, as the organiser, have to enforce this. Having it on your web site is the first small move towards creating a safer environment for your delegates, but that's just the start.

Here's some reading too:

• A LAWYER’S PERSPECTIVE ON CONFERENCE ANTI-HARASSMENT POLICIES
• You literally cannot pay me to speak without a Code of Conduct
• CFI’s New Policy on Hostile Conduct/Harassment at Conferences
• Tweaking the Moral UI

(Thank you to @rachelnabors for the links <3)

[BrianGenisio]

@remy Those are useful links. And I completely agree that putting up the document isn't enough by itself. Having it drive behavior and enforcement matters more.

But these links don't address my question. Has this document been looked at by a lawyer? And if so, what is the opinion?

If having this is risker than not (as suggested by our lawyers), I'm OK taking on risk. I just want to know what the risk is. If a lawyer thinks using this is better than not, then I'd like to hear that as well.

[remy]

I'm not the author of the CoC, just a steward of the URL. So as far as I know, no. But this source comes from projects like the Ada Initiative and the posts linked above definitely cover the common ground. Hope that helps, even a little bit.

[limulus]

That first link is interesting. The off-the-cuff CoC the lawyer comes up with reads a lot to me like much of the Conference CoC here, albeit in legalese. @BrianGenisio, assuming no organizers are able to offer up any experiences with putting (some older version of) this document in front of a lawyer, I wonder if it is possible to go back to your lawyers and say that you are going ahead with the CoC, but ask them what they would change? That would probably be pretty informative, and if they are reasonable changes they could result in an improvement to the document.

[rachelnabors]

That sounds like a splendid suggestion!