A common complaint you will hear as in-house counsel is “Why does it take so long for you guys to review my contract?” (Second only to “Why are our contracts so long?”) The answer, as you know, is complicated. Legal is a limited resource, typically a small team that reviews hundreds and possibly thousands of contracts in any given year. While a lot of contracts are fairly routine, many involve complicated provisions or transactions with millions of dollars on the line. Sometimes you have to create a contract from scratch, meaning you do not have a form or something to easily model from. Frequently, things like litigation or large M&A deals take up substantial amounts of lawyer time — time that cannot be spent on contracts. Finally, legal will generally prioritize contracts based on the strategic objectives of the business. Deals that better support the strategy/objectives get more attention more quickly.
contracts
Ten Things: All I Want for Christmas is a FCPA/Anti-Bribery Health Check
As we head into the holiday season, this is the perfect time to give your anti-bribery program a health check. For those in the U.S., we tend to focus on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act when thinking about anti-bribery laws. However, if you work for a company that operates globally, you know that many countries have anti-bribery laws and you need to be aware of those requirements as well. Enforcement of the FCPA/anti-bribery laws is not going away. In fact, in my opinion, it will get even more intense over the next few years. Given the level of fines and the reputational risk at stake, it’s important to ensure you are taking the right steps to give your employees the tools they need to stay on the right side of the line. At my prior company, we typically used the advent of the holiday season as the time to take a number of steps relating to FCPA/anti-bribery compliance. Below are ten things you can do now to help ensure compliance with anti-bribery laws. In key spots, I have included links to articles or websites with additional information you might find helpful.
Ten Things You Need to Know as In-House Counsel® 