The need for a company to have a strong corporate compliance program is directly related to the risk of a government enforcement action: the greater the degree of government regulation, the greater the risk and need for compliance.
The Boston Bar Association held its annual seminar on The FCPA, Public Corruption and Government Prosecutions on April 3, 2014. Program co-chair and moderator Mark D. Smith helped lead a panel on government trends in high profile public corruption prosecutions, trends in False Claims Act cases and the impact of recent ethics reform laws.
Mark Smith co-chairs the Boston Bar Association’s “Cutting Edge Issues in Criminal Law” Continuing Legal Education program on January 30, 2014. A distinguished faculty of federal and state courts judges and practitioners will discuss topics including the Supreme Judicial Court’s recent decision in Commonwealth v. Woods that requires prosecutors to provide a Miranda-like warning to certain grand jury witnesses.
A recent Supreme Judicial Court decision serves as a stark reminder of the importance of email in white collar criminal prosecutions and how the government’s ability to obtain search warrants for emails must be properly balanced against a criminal defendant’s right to preserve the confidentiality of emails with his or her attorney.
Partner Mark Smith joined Hon. Carol S. Ball, Hon. Frances A. McIntyre, James H. O’Brien, and Penny Haney, PhD as speakers at the May 15, 2013 Boston Bar Association Criminal Law Section seminar on state court white collar sentencing. The group discussed white collar sentencing and disposition strategy, strategy for using the lobby conference to enhance sentencing advocacy and the sentencing impact of recent research and legal cases that deal with adolescent brain development. “A criminal conviction can be devastating for a business client, so sentencing advocacy in such cases is absolutely essential,” said Smith.
Cutting Edge Issues in Criminal Law was the focus at the BBA on January 15, 2013 when L&S Partner Mark Smith moderated discussion of recent changes and issues for 2013, including new priorities for the Inspector General’s office and the status of the state crime lab investigation.
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