By Pamela J. Bethel What role should in-house lawyers play in assuring that corporate compliance standards are met? Should companies have a separate compliance department, or should it be part of the legal department and report to the general counsel? Mitratech, an Austin, Tex.-based consulting firm that works with corporate legal departments, just issued a...
Tag: Corporate Compliance
A Big Win for Privilege in Internal Corporate Investigations
By Pamela J. Bethel Last May, we wrote in this blog that we hoped and expected the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to reverse a district judge’s opinion and to permit companies to assert attorney-client privilege for internal documents created in the course of a bona fide investigation by inside counsel. If...
Who Should Handle That Crucial Internal Investigation?
By Pamela J. Bethel When a company faces the necessary task of conducting a thorough internal investigation into some form of wrongdoing or questionable behavior that has been uncovered in the company’s past, to whom should it turn to handle the investigation? The subject matter of the probe might be an allegation of illegal payments...
When the Government Calls, Listen — and Call Your Lawyer
By Pamela J. Bethel Corporate Counsel magazine just published a very important article by Scott N. Wagner and Joseph Mamounas of Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod in Miami on the steps that in-house counsel should take when he or she receives a call out of the blue from the Securities and Exchange Commission, asking...
Privilege Is Necessary to Ensure Successful Internal Investigations
When a company undertakes an internal investigation of suspected wrongdoing, in-house attorneys are often the ones who do the investigating. Very often, in-house lawyers thus take a central role in a company’s compliance function, and one of the first steps that they take at the direction of top management is to conduct a no-holds-barred investigation...
Needed: Broad Definition of ‘Whistleblower’ Under Dodd-Frank
By Pamela J. Bethel Jordan A. Thomas, formerly a leading SEC attorney who was involved in developing the agency’s whistleblower program and now chairman of the whistleblower representation practice at Labaton Sucharow, as well as Vanessa De Simone, an associate in the firm’s whistleblower representation practice, recently wrote an important op-ed article in the National...
The Strange Case of the Paper-Napkin Conspiracy
By Pamela J. Bethel Recently, we explained, in the context of white-collar crime, why e-mail is a dangerous tool to use, even when you are not guilty, and why one should never be too complacent about what prosecutors may be up to. Here is another lesson: Even a seemingly unbreakable conspiracy can fall apart. All...
Lessons to Learn From Still-Unfolding Navy Contract Scandal
By Carol L. O’Riordan In late January, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) announced that his Oversight and Government Reform Committee has opened an investigation into a still-unfolding U.S. Navy contracting scandal involving allegations involving sex and bribery. The scandal centers upon Glenn Defense Marine Asia, a Singapore-based firm that resupplied and serviced Navy vessels throughout Asia....
New FCPA Case Yet Another Indication of Reach of U.S. Laws
On May 29, 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the settlement of a major criminal and civil case involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In this case, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the DOJ, along with French authorities, announced charges against Total S.A., a French-based oil and gas company. Total agreed to pay...
Role of Outside Counsel to a Corporation: An Appraisal (Part 2)
By Carol L. O’Riordan In a recent post, I discussed the role of a small firm like ours in representing a corporation that has in-house counsel who work for it. Today I will discuss how a firm operates when its client does not have in-house counsel. The scenarios are quite different, although there are some...