Guest Post: 15 (FCPA) Blogs Sites to Check Out
Today's guest post is by Tom Fox, a Houston, Texas-based attorney with a great deal of experience in international transactions and global anti-corruption policy and issues, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Tom writes the "FCPA Compliance and Ethics Blog", a great resource on the FCPA and other corporate ethics and compliance-related issues.
Tom published the following post last month and I thought readers of this blog would find it useful. Thanks to Tom for including International Trade Law News on his top 15 list. Tom's very active and informative Twitter feed is @tomfoxlaw.
15 (FCPA) Blogs Sites to Check Out
The First Blog I Read Each Day
FCPA Blog/FCPA Professor - I know I said “the” first but it is always one of these two, depending on how early in the morning it is and where the mouse pointer ends up when I make the first click. But regardless of which I read first, here is why they are the first.
FCPA Blog - Richard Cassin, the ‘Dean’ of FCPA bloggers. If you want to know what is going on in the FCPA, or wider compliance, world on a once, twice or thrice times daily basis, this is the blog for you. In addition to Dick’s own posts, he gets the crème-de-la-crème of the world’s anti-bribery and anti-corruption writers to send in posts. If the FCPA Blog didn’t exist, someone would have to create it and fortunately for us Dick has done so.
FCPA Professor - Professor Mike Koehler on all things ‘legal’ in the FCPA world. If you want to know the latest Department of Justice (DOJ), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), federal court or anything else FCPA-thinking, from the law perspective, this is the blog for you. Always insightful, and provocative, if you want to hone your Socratic method, parry and thrust via email with the Professor. I guarantee you will learn quite a bit, I know I have.
After I get through these I tweet about them so everyone else can enjoy their collective wit and wisdom then it’s off to the following sites…
Corporate Compliance Insights - A collection of all things compliance, with a starting rotation and bullpen of great authors and contributors. But more than simply blogs, it has job postings, career advice and a broad list of resources for the compliance practitioner. And here’s the best part-it’s all free. Maurice Gilbert and his team have put together an outstanding compliance resource.
Open Air Blog - How can one best describe Howard Sklar’s blogging; withering, skewering, contrarian; he describes himself as “a crusty, irascible curmudgeon.” Here’s how I would describe Howard – one of the best compliance practitioners and commentators around. His insights are great and he uses the right touch of humor and real-world examples to get his point across. His blog is great and a ton of fun to read so saddle up and enjoy the (compliance) ride.
Corruptions Currents - From the Wall Street Journal, Sam Rubenfeld and Joe Palazzollo blog all-day on all things related to the anti-corruption world; FCPA, AML, Whistleblowers, Sanctions and General Anti-Corruption are all covered in this blog. Both journalists were jointly named by Ethisphere as one of the 100 most influential folks in the anti-corruption world. Great coverage, great insight AND it’s from the Wall Street Journal.
From across the pond…
thebriberyact.com - If you only have one resource for all things UK Bribery Act related, you could not find a better site. Barry Vitou and Richard Kovalevsky have put together that rarest of all blog sites, one that covers an entire subject in-depth, with both practical insight and analysis. Their interviews of the relevant players allow all compliance practitioners to develop insight into what the top UK regulatory officials are thinking about on the Bribery Act.
From North of the Border…
i-sight investigation blog - Lindsey Khan provides excellent insight on a wide variety of compliance topics. As with most advice we Americans receive from our Canadian cousins, her blogging is direct with practical guidance on how to navigate compliance challenges. She often provides Templates with her blogging to give you specific guidance on the ‘how to’ of compliance. So get thee to the Great White
North and check out i-sight.com
The Business Ethics Blog - Chris MacDonald teaches Philosophy, including business ethics, at Saint Mary's University and fortunately for the rest of us, he blogs. If you believe either “a) that corporations have a god-given right to accumulate as much capital as possible without regard for who gets hurt along the way; or b) that all corporations, and all people who work for them, are inherently evil, you will probably be irritated by [his] blog.” However, the rest of us can learn quite a bit from this thought provoking blog.
For Export Control…
International Trade Law News - My favorite site for all things trade compliance. Fellow UT Longhorn Doug Jacobson has put together a great site for export controls, sanctions, customs law, FCPA, antidumping and other international trade issues. He touches on the FCPA from time-to-time but he is “The Man” for me to catch up with all issues relating to export control.
Subscription Required - Sorry but you have to pay to read these great blogs…
Compliance Week Blogs - Matt Kelly has put together a plethora of all-star bloggers for his publication Compliance Week. Bruce Carton on the SEC; Melissa Aguilar on Regulatory Developments; Tammy Whitehouse on Accounting and Auditing; Neil Baker with his Global Perspectives; Jaclyn Jaeger with the Scuttlebutt and the Man, Matt Kelly himself. Any of these bloggers would be worth a solo listing but to have them on one site is fantastic.
Just Anti-Corruption - Editor Mary Jacoby and Reporter Chris Matthews blog throughout the day on anti-corruption and anti-bribery issues from a DC perspective. Both are great journalists and both have first-class sources. It puts information to us out in the provinces (as in ‘Outside the Beltway’) on what the DOJ is doing and thinking on all things FCPA.
Aggregators-they put it all together for you.
MyCorporateResource-Nick Montgomery is the hardest working man I know of in the blogosphere world. He manages to post literally hundreds of blogs each day, all focused for the in-house corporate lawyer. He has a specific FCPA site, which is found in the Client Memos, International Trade Sub Menu, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He posts blogs from Blue Chip law firms so the information is well, blue chip. It is a fabulous resource for all things an in-house counsel would need to know and a wonderful FCPA resource.
Law Agents-this site announces that “With over 1,400 subscriptions by users, lawgents.com is the internet's largest free law related news and blog aggregator.” How is that for an opening line. Best of all, its free and you can join, post or just use as a resource.
New Kids on the Block - Note I didn’t say young but these two guys have recently started blogging and from what I know of them, their stuff will be high quality.
Internal Investigations Blog - Cleveland attorney Jim McGrath focuses on all aspects of investigations relating to anti-corruption, anti-bribery, corporate fraud and employee-related theft. His blog is broader than simply the FCPA but just imagine the results of L’Affaire Renault if that company had read Jim’s blog before firing the soon to be multi-millionaire ex-employees.
White Collar Defense and Compliance – and finally… Mike Volkov has started up his own blog. For anyone who has heard Mike speak or read any of his Client Alerts you know this guy knows his stuff. I often wonder how he puts out so much material and manages to practice law, but he does and we, and the greater compliance world, are better for it. So check him out, as in now.
So that is my 15 ‘faves’ list. If you are not on it, please don’t take it personally, I’m sure that I read your blog and tweet about you.
Labels: FCPA
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