Harmonizing the Shield to Corporate Liability : A Comparative Approach to the Legal Foundations of Corporate Compliance Programs from Criminal Law, Employment Law, and Competition Law Perspectives

A range of legal regimes from employment law to corporate and securities law foresees a reduction or elimination of “enterprise liability” for organizations that can demonstrate the existence of “effective” internal compliance structures. The pervasiveness of corporate conduct codes and internal compliance programs, while reflecting the importance ascribed to these codes and programs by different jurisdictions, also raises questions regarding the extent to which companies are willing to take measures to encourage compliance with the law and nip corporate misconduct in the bud before courts and agencies detect such errant behavior. With a compliance industry that has developed over the past decade at an insurmountable pace, the previously defined borders of criminal law, employment law, and antitrust law are hazier and their relationship more intertwined. This article aims to lay out the interaction between these fields of law by particularly examining whistleblowing and elements of setting up effective compliance programs