Welcome to the Daily Compliance News. Each day, Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance brings to you compliance related stories to start your day. Sit back, enjoy a cup of morning coffee and listen in to the Daily Compliance News. All, from the Compliance Podcast Network. Each day we consider four stories from the business world, compliance, ethics, risk management, leadership or general interest for the compliance professional.
Tag: ABA
Welcome to the Daily Compliance News. Each day, Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, brings you compliance-related stories to start your day. Sit back, enjoy a cup of morning coffee, and listen to the Daily Compliance News. All from the Compliance Podcast Network. Each day we consider four stories from the business world, compliance, ethics, risk management, leadership, or general interest for the compliance professional.
Stories we are following in today’s edition of Daily Compliance News:
- Wells Fargo settles yet another shareholder lawsuit. (Reuters)
- Canada sanctions those involved in Haiti’s corruption. (ICIJ)
- Don’t send the sentencing Judge a fake letter. (Bloomberg)
- ABA doesn’t want to report suspicious transactions. (WSJ)
In this episode of the FCPA Compliance Report, I am joined by Trish Refo, Immediate Past President of the ABA. Trish recently penned an article for the ABA magazine entitled “Lawyers in the Public Square”. In this article Trish spoke about the need for lawyers to do more then to simply follow the law but to “model civility and respect in broader society and in the public square”. We discuss the article and some of Trish’s highlights as President of the ABA. Highlights of this podcast include:
- Why Trish wrote ‘Lawyers in the Public Square’?
- When we were sworn in, we took an oath to follow the laws and constitution our state. Do we owe more as lawyers?
- Why do you feel lawyers have a duty to “model civility and respect in broader society and in the public square”?
- You wrote about the need for lawyers to engage in ‘self-examination’ as a profession. Why do we need to do so?
- Why do lawyers need to do more than ‘avoid violation of the rules’?
- Why do you believe lawyers bring ‘real morality into the legal consciousness’?
- What is the role of the ABA in facilitating this self-examination?
- Why is the role of the ABA as important as it has ever been?
- How can lawyers get more involved in this effort through the ABA?
- How can law firms help facilitate this conversation through the ABA?
- The 3 things you are most proud from tenure as President of the ABA?
Resources
In this episode, I am joined by Mikhail Reider-Gordon, Managing Director of Global Affairs at Affiliated Monitors, Inc. We discuss the ABA Guidelines on Monitors.
Gordon has long been a part of the ABA’s discussions around monitors. These standards are found under the Criminal Justice Standards on Monitors (the “ABA Standards”). The ABA Standards emphasize the monitor selection process should encourage consideration of a broad range of monitor candidates and should not be artificially limited by demographic, professional and geographic factors. Gordon also emphasized that “qualifications, integrity, credibility and professionalism are the top of the list.”
Moreover, under potential exclusion, there are a number of examples the standard provides that should be baked into every monitor selection process. Basically, anything that appears to create a conflict of interest or would be perceived to impair the monitor’s judgment or independence are non-starters. Yet, Gordon believes the standards actually go further. She stated, “They go onto provide additional factors that should be considered, some of which may seem obvious to us; such as not having worked for the organization being monitored during the time of the activity in question; not holding prior affiliation with a firm that provided legal or other professional services to the organization being monitored; and even extending to any other factor that could bias or impair or be perceived bias or impair the monitor’s judgment, objectivity, independence, including the prospect of future engagement or other economic considerations that could influence it”. The bottom line is that the ABA Standards “emphasizes the importance of independence.”
All of this extends beyond the criminal side where a monitorship might be put into place concerning a prosecution. It also extends to the civil side of enforcement. Moreover, the ABA Standards can also be applied to a variety of over situations where the independent third-party might be an ombudsman, Independent Sector Inspector Generals or other nomenclature. Gordon believes that “encoding true independence is essential no matter what form a monitorship takes, what title you give it, or whatever you might call it.”
