Anticorruption Compliance & Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
The Squire Sanders anticorruption compliance and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) team helps clients to comply with the US FCPA, the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention and other anticorruption regimes, and works to provide global solutions for clients facing the challenges of increasingly complex regulation and intensified global enforcement.
We excel in cross-border collaboration. Whether a US issuer is conducting FCPA due diligence for a merger transaction spanning multiple jurisdictions or a Europe-based company is responding to an RFP in the Middle East involving an Asia-based services provider, our strong capabilities and cohesion enable us to bring our team members' collective insights regarding cultural matters, political risk and legal issues to bear in counseling our clients.
For US-based and non-US-based issuers, private and public companies, individuals, boards of directors and audit committees in diverse industries, we provide a full range of anticorruption services including:
- Preparing customized compliance and training programs and conducting risk assessments and audits of internal controls to prevent and detect potential FCPA violations.
- Identifying "red flags" and conducting pre-acquisition due diligence to minimize the risk of successor liability.
- Establishing protective measures including anticorruption-related contract provisions or obtaining opinion releases from the US Department of Justice (DOJ).
- Conducting internal corporate investigations around the world and advising boards of directors and audit committees on the results of investigations.
- Representing clients in the defense of DOJ and SEC enforcement proceedings concerning investigations in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.
- Counseling clients on guidelines for business courtesies (such as gifts and entertainment) to foreign officials under the FCPA and local laws.
Our experts in each jurisdiction closely track changes to local anticorruption statutes and their application and are able to provide advice on the local laws and business culture. Indeed, Squire Sanders has been chosen as the partner law firm in the Czech Republic and Hungary for TRACE International, Inc., a leading nonprofit association addressing anticorruption issues for multinational corporations.
We take an integrated approach to analyzing FCPA and anticorruption matters, considering all issues and requirements that may be triggered including Sarbanes-Oxley obligations and requirements under anti-money-laundering and securities laws. Our lawyers also have depth of experience in successfully dealing with the full spectrum of export control and embargo laws that may be triggered by our clients international activities.