Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP and Protiviti presented a webinar on the legal implications of social networking. These are my notes. Rocco Grillo of Protiviti started off the presentation. Social networks have become part of many people’s day-to-day work. They have not replaced email, but are still robust communication tools. The first presenter offered the … Read more »
Year: 2009
Hotline for Improvements
I overheard at a recent compliance meeting about the possibility of using the whistleblower hotline to also solicit comments for improvements to the operations of your company. Those of you with active hotlines you probably get enough false positives coming through (HR, workplace disputes, …) that you probably don’t want anything else coming in. But … Read more »
Happy Patriots’ Day!
The Redcoats are coming! The Redcoats are coming! Patriots’ Day is a Massachusetts state holiday commemorating the opening battles of the American Revolutionary War in Lexington and Concord in April, 1775. In the morning there is a battle reenactment on the Lexington Green of the early-morning engagement between the town’s militia and the British regulars. … Read more »
Quick Hits
Some quick hits on stories that interest me, but did not make it to a full post: SEC Posts XBRL Compliance Guide from The Filing Cabinet by Melissa Klein Aguilar The staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission has posted a “small entity compliance guide” on its rules that require companies to submit financial statements … Read more »
Corresponding with Cornelius
Here are some of my recent comments on some other blogs or other websites that allow comments. I am happy to have you leave comments at Compliance Building. But if not here, take a look at what other people are saying. Join me in the conversation over there. What Would You Do?? by Heather Milligan … Read more »
Risk Assessment – Getting It Right
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP sponsored this webcast: Corporate leaders have long recognized that the pace of change continues to increase in velocity, thus challenging management’s execution of the business’ strategic and tactical plans. Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) is a management tool that can be effective in identifying and assessing the risks that come with change and allow … Read more »
Corporate Miranda for Internal Company Investigations
As in-house counsel are often the ones starting an internal investigation, they need to be mindful of the same issues that appear when outside counsel are conducting an internal investigation. I wrote about the referral for discipline in the Ruehle case and the malpractice claim in Pendergast-Holt investigation in Attorney-Client Privilege and Internal Investigations. It … Read more »
Dishonest Deed, Clear Conscience
In the world of compliance, you may sometimes wonder if that code of ethics really works. Lisa L. Shu, Francesca Gino, and Max H. Bazerman presented their research that a code of ethics really can reduce bad behavior: Dishonest Deed, Clear Conscience: Self-Preservation through Moral Disengagement and Motivated Forgetting. Their studies provided evidence that morality … Read more »
It’s Tax Day – Are You Tempted to Cheat on Your Taxes?
The American tax system is a good test case for cheating. We know it’s good to pay taxes because the government does lots of good things for us. At the same time, we have a selfish desire to pay as little in taxes as possible. Our tax returns are self-reporting for our income and characterization … Read more »
The Impersonator – How Attorney Marc Dreier Bilked Investors Out of Millions
We live in an age of white-collar villains. But of all the financial bad guys out there, Marc Dreier is arguably the single greatest character of them all. Bernie Madoff may have stolen more money. Dick Fuld may have caused more systemic damage. But it’s Dreier alone whose story reads like the stuff of Hollywood. … Read more »