Stanford Law School and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP Expand Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Clearinghouse

October 15, 2018
By
- Stephanie Ashe

Free, public database a resource in fight against global corruption; facilitates study, effective strategies and policies

October 15, 2018 — Stanford, California — The Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford Law School (SLS) and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP announced today the launch of the newly expanded Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Clearinghouse (FCPA Clearinghouse), the nation’s premier public database tracking Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement activity.

FCPA enforcement has become a critical issue for corporations, boards of directors, C-suite executives and their advisors. Since its enactment in 1977, the FCPA has generated more than 500 enforcement actions by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), implicating transactions in more than 100 countries. Defendants in these actions have paid global fines and penalties in excess of $18 billion. Foreign nations are also intensifying their efforts to combat corruption by enacting new legislation and participating in multilateral conventions and working groups aimed at reducing the incidence of bribery on a global basis.

Initially launched in 2016, the FCPA Clearinghouse provides business leaders, law firms, policymakers, scholars, judges, the media and the general public with a free, comprehensive database of enforcement actions and information related to the FCPA. Users can search and sort data about FCPA enforcement actions according to their individual needs and interests. They can view original documents, access relevant laws and precedent, and read articles about FCPA compliance and enforcement.

The newly expanded FCPA Clearinghouse will allow users to search and sort data across four unique datasets:

Enforcement Actions: A staple of the Clearinghouse, “Enforcement Actions” are FCPA-related proceedings brought by theSEC, the DOJ, or both agencies against individuals or entities based on violations of the FCPA or FCPA-related misconduct.
Investigations: “Investigations” are inquiries conducted by a company or U.S. authorities into potential FCPA-related violations by a company or its affiliates, subsidiaries, or joint ventures.
FCPA Matters: “FCPA Matters” are groups of one or more related “Investigations” and/or “Enforcement Actions” that share a common time period and bribery scheme.
Entities:“Entities” are company-defendants or other companies related to an “Investigation” or “Enforcement Action.”

Users can now trace FCPA enforcement from inception through resolution, identify investigations that were closed without further action and those that resulted in enforcement, track all FCPA-related investigations and enforcement activity involving particular entity groups, and identify trends across time, geographies, industries, and more. Users can also run full-text searches through all case documents, SEC filings and other material stored in the FCPA Clearinghouse database, or run narrowly tailored searches across more than 100 data fields on the Advanced Search page. The database is free to all users and available at http://fcpa.stanford.edu.

“Before the FCPA Clearinghouse, a comprehensive database of FCPA resolutions didn’t exist,” said Brendan Cullen ‘95, a partner in Sullivan & Cromwell’s FCPA and anti-corruption practice group. “So when clients wanted to know whether a particular proposed resolution was in line with what other companies had agreed to, it was difficult to say. Or if clients were curious whether the regulators had focused on a particular geography, or industry, or a particular kind of potentially problematic business practice, practitioners had to rely largely on their own experiences or conduct a difficult and time-consuming re-review of the FCPA landscape. With the FCPA Clearinghouse, practitioners can answer these (among many other) questions more quickly and also more comprehensively than was possible before.”

Users can benefit from the expanded FCPA Clearinghouse in a number of ways:

Companies under investigation for FCPA violations and their advisors will be able to construct narrowly tailored searches in the “Investigations” or “Enforcement Actions” databases to identify and analyze similar fact patterns; anticipate potential resolutions, sanctions, and sentences; and monitor the impact of cooperation and self-reporting. They can also learn about the average length and cost of FCPA-related investigations.
Business leaders and compliance professionals will be able to monitor the changing compliance landscape to ensure that their policies and procedures conform to minimum standards elucidated by the SEC and DOJ.
Academics and the media will be able to conduct empirical analyses of FCPA investigations and enforcement actions and search for general trends on the Clearinghouse’s “Statistics and Analytics” pages.
Anyone will be able to access the “Resources” section of the website, which provides links to relevant laws, legislative history, FCPA guidance and compliance, FCPA-related blogs and forums, the websites of federal agencies involved in FCPA investigations and prosecutions, and more.

The FCPA Clearinghouse is a public service provided through the Rock Center for Corporate Governance, which is a joint initiative of SLS and the Stanford Graduate School of Business. The database and website were created by scholars at SLS working in collaboration with Sullivan & Cromwell lawyers. The Rock Center also provides ongoing support, analysis and expertise.

Stanford Law School has been at the forefront of the creation of law-related databases that support empirical research for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers and produce important real-world applications. Among the other important databases it has launched are the Securities Class Action Clearinghouse, which catalogs securities class actions; the Intellectual Property Litigation Clearinghouse, which now operates as a commercial venture called Lex Machina offering real-time data on IP litigation; the Stanford Securities Litigation Analytics project, which tracks and collects data on securities class action litigation and SEC enforcement actions; and the Global Class Actions Exchange, which provides country reports, statutes and rules concerning collective litigation practices.

Sullivan & Cromwell strives to ensure that its clients and the public are kept abreast of recent developments in the law. The Firm is a leader in advising clients around the world on issues arising under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practice Act (FCPA) and related international laws. S&C’s team includes former Assistant United States Attorneys and other lawyers with extensive experience in FCPA and related matters.

About Stanford Law School

Stanford Law School is one of the nation’s leading institutions for legal scholarship and education. Its alumni are among the most influential decision makers in law, politics, business, and high technology. Faculty members argue before the Supreme Court, testify before Congress, produce outstanding legal scholarship and empirical analysis, and contribute regularly to the nation’s press as legal and policy experts. Stanford Law School has established a new model for legal education that provides rigorous interdisciplinary training, hands-on experience, global perspective, and focus on public service, spearheading a movement for change.

About the Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance

The Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance was created to advance the understanding and practice of corporate governance in a cross-disciplinary environment where leading academics, business leaders, policymakers, practitioners, and regulators can meet and work together.

About Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

Sullivan & Cromwell LLP (S&C) provides the highest-quality legal advice and representation to clients around the world. The results the firm achieves have set it apart for more than 130 years and have become a model for the modern practice of law. Today, S&C is a leader in each of its core practice areas and in each of its geographic markets. S&C comprises approximately 875 lawyers who serve clients around the world through a network of 13 offices, located in leading financial centers in Asia, Australia, Europe, and the United States. The firm is headquartered in New York.

CONTACT:

Stephanie Ashe, Stanford Law School, sashe@law.stanford.edu, (650) 723-2232

Emily Albright, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, albrighte@sullcrom.com, (212) 558-4311

Q&A with Brendan Cullen ‘95, a partner in Sullivan & Cromwell’s FCPA and anti-corruption practice group

Why was Sullivan & Cromwell interested in developing an FCPA Clearinghouse with Stanford Law School?

Stanford’s always been a step ahead in its ability to create a user-friendly legal data platform. The Stanford Securities Class Action Clearinghouse is considered a go-to resource for securities class actions in the legal industry – I personally use it all the time. Doing something similar with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act made complete sense. It’s an area where so much is happening and one that, similar to securities class actions, is important to all public companies. And, unlike securities class actions, there are few court decisions on FCPA matters, which makes a comprehensive, searchable source for information on FCPA investigations and enforcement actions all the more valuable for everyone who practices or researches in the FCPA space.

Given the global reach of S&C’s practice, we’ve long been involved with FCPA matters. Several years ago, we negotiated the first-ever deferred prosecution agreement with the SEC in an FCPA matter. The number of factors considered by the DOJ and SEC and the possible outcomes for companies and individuals has only increased since then. As the economy continues to become more global, anti-corruption has been an increasing area of focus for regulators around the world and thus of continually increasing importance for our clients.

The FCPA Clearinghouse was the perfect marriage of diverse experiences: S&C’s FCPA background complemented Stanford’s experience in collecting, synthesizing and analyzing legal data. We jumped at the opportunity.

How does the FCPA Clearinghouse benefit you and other law practitioners? Can you offer an example of how you used information culled from the FCPA Clearinghouse that helped you resolve a client question/issue quickly?

As I noted, before the FCPA Clearinghouse, a comprehensive database of FCPA resolutions didn’t exist. So, when clients wanted to know whether a particular proposed resolution was in line with what other companies had agreed to, it was difficult to say. Or if clients were curious whether the regulators had focused on a particular geography, or industry, or a particular kind of potentially problematic business practice, practitioners had to rely largely on their own experiences or conduct a difficult and time-consuming re-review of the FCPA landscape. With the FCPA Clearinghouse, practitioners can answer these (among many other) questions more quickly and also more comprehensively than was possible before.

When the FCPA Clearinghouse is updated [upgraded?] to reflect announced investigations – not just resolutions – we will have an ability to advise our clients on things like how long investigations take from start to finish, what the regulators’ focus appears to be at a moment in time (not what it was months or years previously) that we simply haven’t had before. It’s really an incredible tool and it’s about to get even better.

Why did Sullivan choose to work with Stanford Law School on this project? What were the benefits of collaborating with your alma mater?

S&C has a great relationship with Stanford Law School and we look forward to continuing to build on it for years to come. In fact, the FCPA Clearinghouse first came about in conversation between Nader Mousavi, another S&C partner and former Chair of Stanford Law School Alumni reunions, well-known Stanford Law School Professor Joe Grundfest and myself a few years back. (I should note parenthetically that Joe was not only my securities regulation professor in law school, he was also the securities regulation professor of every S&C lawyer on the FCPA Clearinghouse team.) We’ve had the opportunity to work with Stanford Law School before and we’ve seen the commitment with which Stanford Law School approaches each project and the Stanford Law School team’s work on the FCPA Clearinghouse has exceeded our already lofty expectations. We further benefited from the Stanford Law School’s incredible network, which has provided us the opportunity to showcase the FCPA Clearinghouse and speak on emerging trends in the FCPA space to — among others — company board members, in-house lawyers, other practitioners, and students.

Beyond Stanford Law School’s commitment to excellence, they are also incredible collaborators. Stanford Law School’s established track record with these platforms is very much the result of their ability to collaborate in creating a working product. The channels of communication between S&C and Stanford are always open.

It’s been incredible to see (and feel) a need in my practice, identify a type of tool that could meet that need, and then work with the team that designs and then builds that tool. Getting to do this with Joe and his team at Stanford Law School . . . I was going to say that it was the icing on the cake, but, really, it was an entire other cake.

Media Contact(s)

Media Relations
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650 723.2232
media@law.stanford.edu