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Lauren Connell, Managing Associate at The Volkov Law Group, joins us again with a posting on Nigeria. Lauren's bio is available here. She can reached at lconnell@volkovlaw.com. Life can provide important perspectives on controversial issues. I know it is a broad statement but life’s lessons
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The 11th Circuit US Court of Appeals handed the Department of Justice a clear victory in the Esquenazi appeal. Esquenazi was sentenced to 15 years in jail for FCPA violations – the longest criminal sentenced imposed in a criminal FCPA case. Most importantly, and as predicted, the Eleventh Circuit upheld the
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The most permanent lessons in morals are those which come, not of book teaching, but of experience -- Mark Twain The most effective ethics and compliance program starts with a CEO. But that is not the end of the story. Life is easier with a CEO who understands the importance of
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Who is responsible for developing a company’s culture? The CEO or the CCO? That is the question, right? As Warner Wolf, the famous sports broadcaster used to say, “Wrong!!” In fact, the answer breaks down to two-parts: (a) defining the company’s culture; and (2) communicating and embedding
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Forgive me for starting with a rhetorical question and for another in my series of profound grasps of the obvious. The answer, as we all know, to the posed question is a resounding yes. Without getting into the details (which I will do below), ethical companies are more profitable for
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Ethics and compliance professionals need to change the drumbeat of their internal message and marketing to corporate boards and leaders. No longer is it appropriate nor persuasive to trumpet fear as a rationale for company investments in ethics and compliance programs. For years, CCOs have cited aggressive enforcement, dangers of
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The art of internal investigations is the ability to identify risks, adapt to those risks and avoid knee-jerk solutions. There are lots of nuances to internal investigations issues and the best practitioners in this area are able to identify them and carefully resolve questions. Since the stakes are high
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Investigators can be nerds. Some enjoy reading documents; others enjoy conducting witness interviews. Both are challenging tasks. Each requires a separate set of skills. Some investigators are able to master a document review and build a story of what occurred in their head. Others use witness interviews to develop the
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People need a vision to inspire them. I know this sounds corny but I always used this motto as a motivational tool. If you can see the goal, then you can figure out a way (or ways) to achieve the goal. If you conduct a set of tasks that are
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Life is filled with consequences. As our parents told us (and we repeated to our own children), “Your decisions have consequences.” I am a bit reluctant to start a blog series on internal investigations with a childhood motto, but when the shoe fits, you wear it (as the saying goes)
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The field of economics is often criticized for failing to have relevance to business realities. One important concept I recall was the difference between “short run” and “long run.” Businesses act different over the short run than they do over the long run. This concept, however, has little to do
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Last year, when Chinese officials launched a broad prosecution of GSK and other drug companies for bribery, multinational companies shivered in fear. Company officials were worried that they could fall under Chinese law enforcement scrutiny. China is not known for promoting due process in its criminal justice system. Much of