In-house counsel, compliance officers and the external counsel
who support them are trained to be risk averse when it comes to
anti-corruption and other types of compliance, and with good
reason.
The enforcement stakes in the United States and beyond are
increasingly high, as the bar for attracting regulatory and law
enforcement scrutiny seems to be increasingly low.
But there is a balance to be struck between mitigating risks and
maximizing profits. Unless and until you find that balance, even
the most well-intentioned compliance efforts are at risk of
failure.
In the rush to address compliance risks, one can forget that law
enforcement and regulators repeatedly advise that their expectation is that
companies will take risk-based steps to implement
compliance programs and internal controls. Hard as it may be
to believe at times, the law enforcement standard is not
perfection, and it can be all too easy in managing compliance to
let perfection be the enemy
