IBA launches report on the client’s perspective on anti-corruption compliance by legal professionals

In a report released 9 October 2013, the findings of a global survey of in-house legal and compliance officers show how clients are becoming the main driving force raising the standards of anti-corruption compliance among legal professionals. The report, entitled, Anti-Corruption Compliance and the Legal Profession: The Client Perspective, was launched during the 2013 International Bar Association(IBA) Annual Conference, taking place in Boston, USA.

Speaking during the launch, Tim Dickinson, Co-Chair of the IBA Anti-Corruption Committee, said, “Lawyers need to realise that anti-corruption compliance is not only a regulatory requirement but also a demand and an expectation from clients. Legal practitioners, regardless of the size of their firm or their location, will need to understand the integrity frameworks their clients have designed and adapt their own compliance systems and integrity mechanisms accordingly. Law firms that fail to adjust to this business environment will face difficulties to comply with client requirements and compete in a world of companies with a greater appetite for clean and transparent business practices.”’

The survey, conducted during the second quarter of 2013, captured the thoughts of more than 60 representatives from companies on five continents. It was motivated by the evident standard-setting role that clients are assuming before their external legal counsel.

Although external legal counsel are not generally classified as high risk intermediaries by the companies surveyed, respondents recognized that lawyers still pose relevant integrity risks that need to be addressed. More than 60 per cent of respondents show concern for the relationship legal professionals develop with the judiciary while a similar proportion extend this concern to a broader group of public authorities.

The IBA Survey also found that as a result of these risks, companies have extended stricter compliance practices used with other intermediaries to lawyers. As evidence of this trend, almost two-thirds of respondents reported an increase in pre-retention due diligence during the last five years, while almost half revealed an increase in monitoring due diligence during the same period of time.

This new Report is part of the Anti-Corruption Strategy for the Legal Profession (Strategy), an initiative of the IBA, in partnership with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Regarding this new milestone for the Strategy, Michael Reynolds, President of the IBA, said “This new report confirms the IBA’s commitment to keep anti-corruption at the core of the work of the Association. Corruption is something which affects us all and the consequences can be significant. Through partnering with the OECD and UNODC we will continue to bear greater focus on the role of lawyers in tackling corruption in international business.” He added, “Across the globe, a growing number of companies are realising that doing business with integrity is the only correct way to operate, and an ever-growing group of law firms, bar associations, governments and private sector actors are  supporting  our anti-corruption work. We are greatly encouraged by this.”

A new series of Strategy workshops and awareness raising activities based on this report will take place in Nigeria, Thailand and Vietnam between the end of October and the beginning of December. Next year the IBA plans to hold activities in the Middle East and Asia.

Click here to download the report Anti-Corruption Strategy for the Legal Profession: The client perspective.

http://www.ibanet.org/Document/Default.aspx?DocumentUid=16DEE9FE-4488-41AD-BB46-E8CCF9D2B056