ARTICLE
Elliott Greenleaf, P.C.'s Rafael X. Zahralddin, will moderate a one-hour webinar for Financial Poise Webinars entitled, "Internal Investigations-101" on Thursday, February 14th at 1:00 p.m. CT/2:00 p.m. ET. The webinar will be offered on-demand through Financial Poise and is part of a multi-part series on compliance moderated and developed by Rafael X. Zahralddin. Marianne Ibrahim of Baker Hughes, a GE Company; S. Jeanine Conley, Littler Mendelson, P.C.; and Christina Sarchio, Dechert LLP, will serve as panelists. Notably Rafael (2015), Marianne (2018), and Jeanine (2015) are all Fellows of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, an organization of more than 300 Members, who serve as either general counsel of major corporations or managing partners of the nation's leading law firms. The Fellows Program works by identifying high-potential attorneys from diverse backgrounds and setting them on the path to leadership of their organizations. Christina Sarchio is a former colleague of Rafael's from the Board of Governors of the Hispanic National Bar Association and a noted expert in her field as well. Christina also received the MCCA's 2017 Rainmaker Award. The mission of Financial Poise is to provide reliable plain English business, financial and legal education to individual investors and private business owners. Financial Poise content is created by seasoned, respected experts who are invited to join our Faculty only after being recommended by current Faculty Members. The FP editorial staff then works to make sure that all content is easily digestible. Financial Poise is a meritocracy; nobody can "buy" their way onto the Financial Poise Faculty. It was with this mission in mind that Rafael Zahralddin approached Financial Poise's Founder and Chairman Jonathan Friedland and asked to staff the panels in this compliance webinar series with LCLD Fellows and other noted experts that were both diverse and accomplished in their fields. Webinar Description: Compliance issues are at the front of every manager's and fiduciary's mind these days. It used to be that all the worry came from a creative plaintiffs' bar calling a business's conduct into question, but those days are long gone. Public and private companies are investigated by not only the United States federal government, but also local, state, and foreign governments. Self-regulating entities also add a layer of scrutiny. Under the insulation of the attorney-client privilege, an effective internal investigation can help marshal the facts to inform corporate decisions about past or existing violations and prevent potential future violations. An internal investigation can protect management from the violation and records the company's response to an incident or violation. However, most importantly, it serves to send a clear message that the company is serious about compliance and that it sets transparency as a priority. This webinar surveys recent compliance trends and discusses best practices regarding the attorney-client privilege, joint defense agreements, the use of experts, witness interviews, the consequences of self-disclosure and how to control the impact on the company. This series was originally developed in 2017 with Elliott Greenleaf, P.C.'s Rafael Zahralddin (LCLD Fellow 2015), Shelley Kinsella (LCLD Fellow 2016), Jarad Handelman, Christine Wechsler (LCLD Fellow 2017), and Kelley Hodge (LCLD Fellow 2018). Compliance Webinar Series: This webinar series covers internal investigations related to corporate and regulatory compliance, corporate law compliance, securities law compliance (with a focus on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act) and executive compensation as it relates to corporate and regulatory compliance. The various episodes examine these topics from a company's perspective with a focus on the impact to the company's day-to-day and long-term operations.