Compliance And Ethics

When a company hires an employee away from a competitor, alarms are likely to go off for the in-house counsel. The new employee may be on the up and up, but what happens if your competitor claims that they stole confidential, proprietary, and trade secret information––transferring it all through their email––and are now subpoenaing your company’s computers? Technological advances have made the transferring of such data easy for employees who move around so frequently and in-house attorneys need to know how to respond while protecting their company’s own confidential information.

In a post-Sarbanes-Oxley world, in-house counsel of public (and private) companies have reason to worry that the SEC might turn its attention to their clients. The SEC is funded to take action; its budget for enforcement has increased exponentially in recent years. What happens if your company becomes the subject of an SEC investigation? How do you respond appropriately? This article will set forth some practical steps in-house counsel should consider in the event that her company receives notice that it is under SEC scrutiny.

In the midst of all of the corporate scandals that have erupted since the Enron bankruptcy filing last year and in light of the new requirements established by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, what do in-house counsel of public companies need to do both to protect their clients (the corporation, its officers, employees, and shareholders) and themselves? Read this article to get a better grasp of the scope of the problem and use the five-point compliance plan to help plan a solution.