Wonderful Things Happened

Christmas! ‘Tis the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial fire of charity in the heart.  — Washington Irving

We’re warmed by the generosity of those who support this project. Our readers let us know what they like, our sponsors provide financial and moral support, and many of you send hints, tips and ideas that eventually become posts.

Cody Worthington has been here since the beginning, lending a hand many times when we were stuck in deep snow. Marc Bohn, whom we haven’t mentioned before, has been another stalwart — with at least a dozen ideas and corrections (despite his own busy practice and publication schedule).  Among others who were an important part of the blog this year are Elizabeth Spahn, Rebecca Walker, and Andy Spalding.

We just heard from Andy. Writing from India, he said:

Dear FCPA Blog,

I hope this email finds you well. I thought you might be glad to know that the FCPA Blog has now become, among many other things, a social networking site! When I came to India to do my FCPA research I first went to the Blog and found the names of Mayur Joshi, CEO of Indiaforensic, and his then-colleague Pradeep Akkunoor. Mayur and Pradeep sponsored India’s first FCPA conference back in 2007, which you generously covered on the Blog. As a result of these introductions, two wonderful things happened.

First, I discovered that Pradeep is now an MBA student at Sasin Business School in Bangkok, and he invited me out to the school to do a presentation on the FCPA, which I did on Dec. 4th. Then Mayur and I decided to organize our own conference in Pune, India, which was held on Dec. 18th. It was a tremendous success — many of the biggest Indian companies attended, and we received ample coverage in the press.

I wanted to thank you for making these connections possible. As you know, I am concerned about the sanctioning effect of the FCPA in developing countries, and I have come to believe that the most effective remedy is education. To the extent that we can raise awareness of the statute’s provisions among potential business partners in historically bribery-prone countries, companies subject to the FCPA’s jurisdiction will be less uneasy doing business there. And in my view, when that happens everybody wins.

This effort would not be nearly as effective without a central repository of information on all things FCPA related, and in all seriousness, your blog is serving this purpose extraordinarily well.

Merry Christmas,

Andy Spalding

Now it’s our turn to thank Andy and all of you for your countless gifts that simply couldn’t be greater.