PBI Probes FCPA Enforcement Issues

The Pennsylvania Bar Institute is offering a seminar titled The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: Why the FCPA Matters - Understanding the Law, Identifying the Risks and Making Your Client Compliant. It will be held on Wednesday, October 19, at the PBI CLE Conference Center located in the Wanamaker Building in Central Philadelphia, beginning at 9:00 a.m. and ending at 12:15 p.m.

In 2004 the U.S. Department of Justice brought exactly five Foreign Corrupt Practices Act cases against corporations that had paid bribes to overseas officials. By 2009 and 2010, the game had changed completely - there were over 60 cases initiated by the government against companies and individuals who had paid bribes, and nearly $2 billion dollars in fines were assessed. Enforcement of the FCPA is now a top priority of the SEC and DOJ, according to government spokespersons. Foreign counties, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany and China to name a few, are aggressively pursing bribery and corruption cases, causing the stakes to be greater for counsel advising global companies. Corporate practitioners have to become versed in the nuances of the FCPA as the global economy becomes more treacherous for U.S. companies.

Participants will be armed with practical knowledge about the FCPA and understand the fundamentals of the law and become equipped to identify risks and tackle compliance requirements by establishing organizational policies and procedures to avoid FCPA risk and audits.

The speakers are Mark H. Mapp, P.H. Glatfelter Company, and Lourdes Sanchez Ridge, Thorp Reed & Armstrong, LLP.

For information about available CLE credits and fees, see CLE Events on The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel website at www.metrocorpcounsel.com.

To register, visit www.pbi.org or call (800) 932-4637.