Compliance officers need to dig into and understand a company’s internal controls. Many compliance officers tend to leave that issue to Internal Auditors – that is a big mistake. Compliance officers have to be multi-disciplinary experts, ranging from legal, to financial and business strategies. Frankly, in the corporate governance world, compliance officers serve as internal psychologists, cheerleaders, strategists, and overall hand-holders. Compliance officers have to...

An effective due diligence screening program should include instances when a company decides not to engage an agent or distributor. It is hard to persuade the business side of this fact but success does not necessarily flow from blind acceptance of every potential third-party. We are all focused on success and approval of business partners. However, there are situations where a third-party is just not...

Most lawyers are not creative people. After all, there is a reason they went into the law. Lawyers who deal with anti-corruption risks and third parties need to expand their horizons and consider using creative solutions to reduce and minimize risk. In the anti-corruption compliance arena, many companies are following a standard formula for certifications, representations and warranties. Lawyers involved in these issues have passed...

The Department of Justice and the SEC know they can push companies to expand and improve their anti-corruption compliance programs. They are well aware that the requirements set forth in their settlement documents, as well as the critical “Hallmarks of an Effective Compliance Program” in the FCPA Guidance, have resulted in expansion and improvement of anti-corruption compliance efforts. One specific area is the ever-increasing requirement...

I thought it would be helpful to run a series this week on the third-party due diligence process. It is one of my favorite topics and one that requires careful and continuing attention. I have put together a four-part series on some significant issues. Today we start with agent and distributor monitoring. The field of due diligence has quickly filled up. If you look at...

We all know the legal maxim – justice delayed is justice denied. The origins of the phrase go way back in history. Martin Luther King Jr. used the phrase in his letter from Birmingham jail in 1963, stating “justice too long delayed is justice denied.” The principle underlies much of our justice system, including the Constitutional right to a speedy trial. As a former prosecutor...

When it comes to the relationship between legal and compliance, I reminisce to my days refereeing fights between my children (before they hit the ripe old age of the 20s) . I hate to refer to the days of Rodney King asking the US public – “why can’t we just get along?” There is a lot of truth in both of my references but it...

You know a successful Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer when you meet one. You can see it in the way they carry themselves, the way they speak and the way they interact with people in the company. A successful CECO is a positive person, one who commands respect, and who exercises careful judgment. More importantly, a successful CECO is a leader, not a business leader,...