Archive for 2013

Insider trading, private corruption and behavioral ethics

Both the contours and the purposes of the prohibitions against insider trading have been the subject of considerable dispute – indeed, the lack of clarity regarding insider trading enforcement may be unique among major laws in the business crime field, at least in the US.  Needless to say,  uncertainty regarding […]

Ethical corporate cultures – and the role of the government

Here  is part one of a dialogue with Steve Priest on ECOA Connects looking at various issues involving corporate culture and ethics. We hope you find it interesting.

Two conflicts of the apocalypse

The COI Blog has, since its launch in 2011, examined a host of different types of conflicts.  (For those new to the blog, you can explore this “parade of horribles” through the various tabs and sub-tabs to your left on this site.)  But, of course, not all conflicts should be […]

Legal ethics for compliance lawyers

The compliance revolution (if it can be called that) of the past two decades has not profoundly altered fundamental legal ethics standards. But it has – in important ways – changed the contexts in which various legal ethics issues are raised and resolved. This short article in the current issue of […]

Behavioral ethics teaching and training

In “Teaching Behavioral Ethics” – which will be published next year by the Journal of Legal Studies Education, and a draft of which can be found here  – Robert Prentice of the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas  presents his pedagogical approach to  behavioral ethics.  The paper should be useful not […]

Happy Birthday, Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations

Twenty-two years ago today the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations went into effect.  Although only a set of rules (i.e., not an actual statute), these Guidelines have had a revolutionary effect on how many governments around the world seek to prevent/detect business crime and what businesses do – i.e., develop and […]

What’s new and what matters in Conflict of Interest World

Last week I spoke at the Practising Law Institute’s 2013 Advanced Compliance and Ethics Workshop, covering a host of COI-related topics, including risk assessment; policies and certifications; review procedures; training (of boards, senior executives and others);  audits; self assessment; moral hazard and behavioral ethics. The program materials can be found here: PLI […]

How not to get your next job

A prior post catalogued various  COI issues arising from moving from one job to another. To this inventory should be added the recent case of David Ostermeyer (which was brought to my attention by a COI blog reader, for which I am grateful). As described in this press release issued on […]

Should companies reward employees for good behavior?

Among the elements of an effective C&E program, none has been the source of both more philosophical dispute and also practical challenge than C&E incentives.  In our latest conversation on ECOA Connections, Steve Priest and I take up this thorny topic. We hope you find it interesting.

The monstrous offspring of two conflict-of-interest titans?

Perhaps no types of conflicts of interest cast bigger shadows on the US ethical landscape than do those of doctors prescribing medicines based on the doctors’ economic interests and financial advisors giving investment advice motivated by their own, and not their clients’, economic interests.  And now, these two COI giants seem to […]