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...
Tag: ethics
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....
A Lawyer’s View of Government Contracts and Litigation, Looking Toward 2013
By Carol L. O’Riordan As we see matters now in two of our principal practice areas – government contracts and litigation – we are at a crossroads as the economic stimulus and two overseas wars wind down. We are approaching the end of the $767 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, passed in 2009 to...
This Is Time for FCPA Compliance, Not for ‘Reform’ of the Statute
By Pamela J. Bethel The latest Wal-Mart news is that the company has been active in a concerted campaign by an arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to weaken the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which prohibits U.S. companies from bribing officials of foreign governments. The Washington Post reported on its front page on...
Wal-Mart Lesson: Compliance Program Works Only When You Follow It
By Pamela J. Bethel Even a carefully designed corporate compliance program will do a company no good if its top executives intentionally decide to ignore the program’s dictates. That is one of the many lessons that can be gleaned from the Wal-Mart bribery scandal, which was first highlighted in an 8,000-word New York Times article this past...
Lawyers Ethics, Social Media, and the First Amendment
Lawyers who use evolving social media can put themselves at risk, as those who enforce rules drafted long before social media strain to interpret them in situations that were never contemplated, and often against technological and social backdrops that they do not understand. Recently the Virginia Bar charged a Richmond criminal defense lawyer with misconduct. ...