Conference programme

The World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index 2022 indicates that the rule of law has declined globally for the fifth year in a row. Media headlines around the world suggest that corruption and criminality is a common issue in judicial systems and governments. This panel will explore how corruption and criminality occurs in politics and the courts in different jurisdictions. We will ask what impact it has on the rule of law and consider what steps can be taken to improve the position.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created an unprecedented reaction from the most powerful countries in the world. From weapons to massive aid programmes, the efforts to counter the Russian actions include a long and diverse list of sanctions. Commentators and practitioners around the world have been discussing the power and effectiveness of the different sanctions programmes as a tool for the counterattack on the invading forces.

This panel will consider several points of view, offering perspectives from the criminal enforcement and business crime legal communities around the world, in an effort to understand the effectiveness of these, in paper, powerful weapons.

Everyone shall respect the law. But in ever-expanding situations, it is legally or informally required from companies that they make sure not only their officers and employees abide by laws and regulations, but also that all the third parties they are interacting with do so, in the countries where they are based as well as nearly all over the world. They are increasingly expected to detect potential criminal offences, internally investigate them, collect data, question people, establish potential individual liabilities, disciplinary sanction employees, self-report to the judicial or administrative authorities and cooperate to reach settlements while being strongly incited to do so.

But to what extent is this their role? What is it telling about public enforcement policies around the world? Are commercial companies becoming private prosecutors and should such a trend be questioned?

This session will consider some of the key ingredients in creating and running a successful crime practice such as business development, leadership, culture and change management. What works, what doesn’t work and what would you do differently if you could do it again?

The panel will explore the latest developments across jurisdictions on laws and enforcement activity surrounding treason, espionage, and other national security topics.

With the revelations included in the leaked ‘Panama Papers’, the profession of lawyers – among other professional advisors – has come under scrutiny, with some critics referring to lawyers as ‘professional enablers’. On 21 February 2021, texts were published by the OECD and the FACTI Panel of the UN, expressing concerns on the role of advisors in enabling crime. Recently, the European Commission conducted a consultation on this issue in EU member states.

This idea of lawyers as potential criminal enablers threatens our work because, among other reasons, critics can use examples such as the Panama Papers to justify encroachments on professional rights, especially the attorney-client privilege – something that some lawyers are already experiencing in areas such as anti-money laundering.

This panel will consider the current state of affairs of the perception of lawyers as potential enablers to white-collar criminals, and will consider questions such as ‘How can the image of our profession be improved?’, ‘Do we need to accept certain restrictions?’, and ‘Are lawyers held to a high enough standard of business ethics?’