Anti-Corruption Compliance Overview: Laws, Trends, and Internal Investigations

Historically, no jurisdictions have been able to keep pace with U.S. anti-corruption enforcement. However, beginning with the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention in 1997, multilateral anti-corruption enforcement has spurred countries around the world to implement or enhance and enforce anti-corruption laws of their own. Over the past decade, these global efforts have increased significantly, as has cooperation among governmental authorities seeking to enforce such laws. Recently, Ben Morgan, the co-head of the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office, announced an intention to seek to impose penalties in U.K. enforcement actions that achieve “parity” with penalties that would have been imposed in a U.S. enforcement action. A significant challenge for multinational companies in recent years has been keeping pace with the changing regulatory landscape.

Given this context, it is essential for companies to gain a deeper understanding of global anti-corruption laws and enforcement trends. In addition, as laws and enforcement trends evolve, so do best practices. Companies are well-advised to understand best practices pertaining to the investigation of potential corruption issues and the development of risk-based compliance programs that prevent corruption.

In this course, two Dechert partners with significant prosecutorial and defense experience explore the difficult area of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act/international enforcement actions.  There is a significant emphasis on how to conduct investigations and to develop critical strategic considerations essential to success in a complex and highly regulated international climate.

Learning Objectives: 

1. Identify key anti-corruption laws
2. Understand recent anti-corruption enforcement trends
3. Know how to conduct a global internal investigation
4. Articulate compliance best practices