O’Melveny & Myers LLP has released the seventh edition of its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: An O’Melveny Handbook.
The Handbook, available here, was first published in 1992. It’s a comprehensive 150-page guide to the FCPA that draws upon the firm’s extensive experience handling enforcement and counseling matters to analyze the latest settlements and government guidance.
It begins with an overview of the FCPA’s key provisions, including an outline of its jurisdictional reach and the elements required for its various offenses, then examines in detail the law’s interpretation and application, as reflected in settlement agreements and occasional court cases. The Handbook identifies common misunderstandings and “traps” companies encounter in the FCPA space, and other chapters explore elements of effective compliance programs to reduce the risk of violations and steps to take if a potential violation is discovered. Useful appendices include tables summarizing all the DOJ’s opinion releases along with how enforcement actions have defined foreign officials.
The seventh edition includes several key updates for businesses and attorneys. It introduces a new chapter devoted to the UK Bribery Act, a critical emerging risk area for many businesses. It also highlights some of the key points from the DOJ and the SEC’s joint Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, released last fall, placing them in a broader compliance and enforcement context and analyzing what government positions taken in the Guide predict for critical but developing issues like jurisdiction over foreign persons and liability for third party conduct.
O’Melveny partners Richard Grime (former Assistant Director in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement) and Greta Lichtenbaum, together with former O’Melveny partner Jeremy Maltby (now in the Office of the White House Counsel) led the update effort, drawing on the research and experience of the firm’s many FCPA lawyers.
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Beth France is an associate in O’Melveny’s Washington, DC office and a member of the White Collar Defense & Corporate Investigations and Public Policy & Political Strategy Practice Groups. She can be contacted here.
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