Corporate Compliance Programs

Stier Anderson, LLC helps to develop, implement and improve corporate compliance programs . Under a variety of recent laws, regulations and policies, having an effective program can be invaluable for an organization. For example, in some instances, a company's compliance program - if truly effective - can provide the basis for the U.S. Department of Justice declining to prosecute an organization in instances of employee wrongdoing. On the other hand, under the Caremark decision, directors may face personal liability for failing to require that their corporations implement compliance programs, a prospect made even more likely by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Finally, having an effective compliance program can provide significant business benefits , such as enabling a company that has been found culpable of a legal or regulatory violation to do business with the government. (For an outline of the law of corporate compliance programs click here).

Among the firm's services in this area are:

• conducting compliance risk assessments
• drafting/reviewing codes of conduct and other policy documents];
• developing internal communications strategies;
• establishing procedures to protect whistleblowers;
• developing personnel policies that promote compliance;
• creating/enhancing internal controls;
• developing compliance audit protocols;
• establishing or improving compliance offices;
• counseling directors on their duties to oversee the overall program; and
• assessing the efficacy of programs for corporate boards, managers or others.

The firm's principal attorney in this area has, over the course of the past decade, assisted companies in virtually every major business area in compliance program matters and his published work has helped define compliance "best practices." In addition, Stier Anderson, LLC recently led Project RISE for the 1.4 million-member International Brotherhood of Teamsters, perhaps the most ambitious internal organizational compliance and integrity program ever launched.