Recently, we hosted our Compliance Conversation series webinar titled “Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Program: What’s new in DOJ’s revised guidance?” with Heidi Kocher, a partner at Liles Parker PLLC.

It was a hit, and many of the attendees emailed us to tell us that it was very updated information regarding DOJ’s revised guidelines for the evaluation of a company’s compliance program. So, we decided to share a summary of this webinar.

The agenda of this webinar was to discuss:

• Factors that prosecutors consider while investigating a corporate organization for an offense

• Internal evaluation of your compliance program based on the DOJ’s revised guidelines for prosecutors

• Tips for improving your compliance program’s adequacy and effectiveness in light of DOJ’s latest guidance

The DOJ guideline is basically for prosecutors to keep an eye on certain factors while evaluating a company’s compliance program during investigations for a federal offense. However, it can very well be used by compliance professionals also, to find out how adequate and effective their compliance program is.

Our speaker, Heidi Kocher, shared the history of DOJ’s guidance and the recent updates, after which lots of valuable discussion followed. We compiled a few points that were discussed in detail.

• History of DOJ’s guidance in the form of Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 up till Criminal Division, Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs – updated, June 2020.

• Updates made in “Principles of Federal Prosecution of Business Organizations” in the Justice Manual, section JM 9-28.300.

• How a compliance program must be designed with the following considerations: Risk Assessment, Policies and Procedures, Training and Communication, confidential reporting structure and investigation process, Management of third parties, Mergers and acquisitions.

• How a compliance program can be evaluated for adequacy in terms of resources and empowerment to function effectively.

• Tips for ensuring continuous improvement, periodic testing, and periodic review.

• The webinar was followed by an interactive Q/A by several fellows in compliance.