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Jeff Kaplan
Kaplan & Walker, LLP

Mr. Kaplan has worked in the compliance field since the early 1990's, developing, implementing, improving and assessing compliance programs for companies in nearly every major business area. In addition to his role as Chair of the Law & Business Ethics Advisory Board, he is a member of Kaplan & Walker, LLP, a law firm based in Princeton, NJ and Santa Monica, CA, and is an Adjunct Professor - Markets Ethics and Law at the Stern School of Business of New York University. He is also co-editor of Compliance Programs and the Corporate Sentencing Guidelines (West Pub.); co-publisher of ethikos magazine; and a frequent speaker on compliance and ethics issues at ECOA and SCCE, PLI, and the Conference Board.
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Compliance & Ethics Predictions for 2010

by Jeff Kaplan, Dec 31, 2009

The year that just ended was a momentous one for the compliance and ethics (C&E) field. It was marked, among other things, by the imposition of the largest criminal fine in U.S. history (in the Pfizer fraud-and-abuse prosecution), as well as the largest penalties ever imposed in cases involving OSHA, FERC and OFAC related violations. And, by all accounts, there is more – perhaps much more – to come.

At the same time, governmental bodies are speaking more clearly now than ever before about their C&E program expectations of companies. This was evidenced by:

  • a warning in April by a top Justice Department official that companies should not cut back on C&E budgets;
  • a much-noted case in September in which the SEC articulated why it charged an individual, but not a company, in a Reg FD matter;
  • a reminder the same month by the Vice Chair of the Sentencing Commission that periodic C&E program assessments are critically important; and
  • the recommendations in December of an OECD anti-bribery working group that seem to portend a new era of compliance requirements globally.

    • How this last story plays out will, in my view, likely be the most important C&E issue overall in 2010, particularly when the OECD publishes C&E program best practices in June. But for any given company, the most important C&E issue will be the one that it either avoids (through having a strong program) or, conversely, that hits them square between the eyes.

    Jump ahead 12 months: will you be able to say that your most significant C&E issue of the year was the one you avoided? A lot goes into the mix of creating C&E success, of course, but following the advice of the Vice Chair of the Sentencing Commission, as well as others in the government, to assess your program is as good a place to start as any. After all, just as medical checkups can play an important role in maintaining one’s physical health, C&E checkups – which is what assessments are – can do the same for a company’s compliance well being.

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