Corporate executives are all too aware that regulators expect them to have competent, effective compliance functions these days. That’s leading some to wonder whether dedicated legal staffers should be part of an “effective” compliance department.
Most companies still have a chief compliance officer and perhaps a few deputies, but they rely on the regular corporate legal department when they need lawyers to help with an investigation or to confirm that compliance programs meet government expectations. The problem? “You don’t have your finger on the pulse of what the government is expecting as much as someone who does [compliance] every day,” says Bob Bittman, a securities lawyer at the law firm White & Case.
