In Part II of my continuing series, I identify in broad strokes some of the more significant positive and negative aspects of ISO 37001. While it is easy to second-guess the ISO 37001 authors, there are some interesting issues that are addressed and some missed opportunities to advance ethics and compliance systems. On the positive side, ISO 37001 is keyed to a valuable concept of...
The release of ISO 37001 has triggered an important discussion among legal and compliance professionals. In a five-part series, I plan to address the value of ISO 37001, provide a substantive analysis, and to evaluate the contribution ISO 37001 has made (or will make) in the compliance field. First, I recommend that everyone spend time studying ISO 37001. It is a mistake to write off...
Lawyers get a bad rap, and I am not just referring to all the lawyer jokes we have heard numerous times. Lawyers get a bad rap when it comes to compliance. Much of it is not deserved – but candidly, some of it is deserved. For some reason, Chief Legal Officers have difficult accepting the empowered role of a Chief Compliance Officer. This is not...
Compliance officers have to avoid complicating a compliance program. As in many areas in life, there is a value in simplicity. Take for example a compliance training presentation. If a compliance officer overwhelms his/her audience with legal mumbo jumbo, you can rest assured that no one will retain anything and the training program will not be very successful. On the other hand, if a compliance...
It is always interesting to learn how companies handle specific compliance issues. Years ago, I could always tell when a compliance department was lacking in stature and independence in a company. Typically, I observed three important indicators – a compliance department that was stuck in the legal department reporting to the general counsel; mired in detailed gifts, meals and entertainment reviews and approvals; and devoted...
The healthcare industry continues to be a frequent target for criminal prosecutions. More importantly, federal prosecutors are ready, willing and able to bring criminal cases against C-Suite actors involved in healthcare fraud cases. Sometimes prosecutors win their cases, and sometimes they lose. That is just the nature of the beast. ArthroCare stands as yet another example of the destruction of a company resulting from C-Suite...
Instead of wrestling over the definition of an “effective” ethics and compliance program, let’s take a step back and define what we all agree on is an “ineffective” compliance program. Unfortunately, when you work in the real world, some Chief Compliance Officers, along with senior management and the members of the board of directors are supervising and administering compliance programs that fall far short of...
Sometimes a bad idea just will not die. Sometime commentators like to return to simplistic solutions that sound good on paper. These same commentators have failed to address the practical concerns that outweigh any possible rational for enacting the so-called FCPA compliance defense. This debate has been going on for a while and I expected the idea to die out. Recently, I saw renewed discussion...
Just when everyone was anticipating the beginning of an uptick in FCPA enforcement in 2017, the Justice Department and the SEC delivered a resounding message to remind everyone that FCPA enforcement is here to stay. However, the Telia decision may be the first indication of some changes in DOJ’s FCPA enforcement policies. It is hard to say from just one major DOJ enforcement action but...
The Department of Justice’s approach to criminal prosecution of corporations and individuals has evolved over the last 20 years. Beginning with the traditional model of building criminal cases, brick-by-brick, by investigating and prosecuting individuals, traditionally used to dismantle organized crime and drug trafficking/gang organizations, the Justice Department has now embraced a new model of enlisting corporations to conduct internal investigations, usually with the assistance of...
