Readings 3/8
- US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Links to an external site.. What are the elements of a violation of the FCPA? What are the defenses?
- US Department of Justice and US Securities and Exchange Commission, FCPA: A Resource Guide to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (Washington, DC: GPO, 2012) Links to an external site., 1–35. (permalink) Links to an external site. Make sure you understand the hypotheticals at pages 12, 17–18, and 26.
- Joel P. Trachtman, The Tools of Argument: How the Best Lawyers Think, Argue, and Win Links to an external site., pages 67–105.
- OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions Links to an external site..
- Complete WYRAR questions before class
Goal: Understand the rationale for foreign antibribery law and the elements of a violation of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, as well as the latter’s relationship to the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. Understand legal analysis of violation of law through analysis of parameters of violation and evaluation of facts against parameters.
Topics:
- Legal analysis and synthesis
- Working with statutes, treaties, and contracts
- What is a “bribe”? What are the policy implications of bribery? Distinguish domestic from international bribery.
- US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
- OECD Anti-Bribery Convention
- Designing and implementing compliance programs
- Is a foreign subsidiary of a US company covered by the FCPA?
- Are bribes to doctors to prescribe the medicines you are trying to sell covered?
- When is it illegal to hire the child of a government official?
- If you were CEO of a US-based company seeking to make an investment in a foreign country and wished to engage a consultant to assist with negotiations with the host government, what would you do to protect your company and yourself from liability under the FCPA?
- Discuss strategic implications of compliance with anti-bribery law.