Law Commons^™

Social Control-Effective Means Of Fighting Against Corruption, S. Saidova

Review of law sciences

this article enlightens the issues of further strengthening cooperation between state bodies and public associations in the struggle against corruption and improving its legal mechanisms.

Palm Papers, Nicole Rothwell

Capstones

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) came into possession of a secret dataset of property owners of the Palm Islands, the elite high-end artificial islands on the coast of Dubai.

With over 250 neighborhoods on Dubai’s waterfront, a group of journalists around the world has been investigating who these individuals are that can afford the posh and pricey real estate. While most fall into the uber-rich category, some also have corrupt to criminal backgrounds leading to questions such as if the Palm Islands are truly a real-estate paradise, or instead a refuge for the corrupt.

The task for …

Ethics, Law Firms, And Legal Education, Milton C. Regan Jr.

Maine Law Review

A rash of recent corporate scandals has once again put professional ethics in the spotlight. It's hard to pick up the Wall Street Journal each day and not read that authorities have launched a new investigation or that additional indictments are imminent. Stories of financial fraud and outright looting have galvanized the public and shaken the economy. What ethical lessons can we draw from these events? Two explanations seem especially prominent. The first is a story of individuals without an adequate moral compass. Some people's greed and ambition were unchecked by any internal ethical constraints. For such deviants, no amount …

The Concept Of Discretion And Delimitation With Judicial Discretion, Yorg Pudelka

Review of law sciences

The article describes the concept of discretion as one of the central concepts in the science of administrative law, further a parallel between the discretion existing in the government (so-called discretionary powers) and judicial discretion is drawn. Thus, the administrative body is obliged to apply its discretion in order to give the right of discretion and to comply with the statutory limits of discretion, if it is authorized to act in its own discretion. The proper application of the discretion by the administrative body may be re-examined within the framework of pre-trial appeal by the same administrative body or by …

Judicial Elections And Issue Advertising: A Two-State Study, Christopher Terry, Mitchell T. Bard

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law—Why Amending The Consitution To Overrule Citizens United Is The Wrong Way To Fix Campaign Finance In The United States, Zachary Hale

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Stock Market Reactions To India's 2016 Demonetization: Implications For Tax Evasion, Corruption, And Financial Constraints, Dhammika Dharmapala, Vikramaditya Khanna

Law & Economics Working Papers

On November 8, 2016, the Indian government made a surprise announcement that certain currency notes (representing 86% of the currency then in circulation) would no longer be legal tender (although they could be deposited in banks over a limited period). The stated reason for this sudden “demonetization” was to combat tax evasion and corruption associated with “unaccounted-for” cash. We compute abnormal returns for firms on the Indian stock market around this event, and compare patterns of abnormal returns for different subsamples of firms defined by industry, ownership structure, and other characteristics. There is little evidence that sectors thought to be …

Creating An Anti-Corruption Norm In Africa: Critical Reflections On Legal Instrumentalization For Development, Paul D. Ocheje

Law Publications

Abstract

This article reflects critically on the instrumental value of law in the anti-corruption struggle in Africa. Three questions are central to this reflection: (a) Is the instrumental use of law to achieve a developmental purpose, such as anti-corruption, defensible in theory and practice? (b) Is law necessary to, and/or adequate for, the creation of an anti-corruption norm? (c) Why do the developing countries perform so poorly in the fight against corruption in comparison with their wealthier, industrialized counterparts? While the article defends the instrumentalization of law in this regard, it argues that the African normative context of corruption throws …

Newsroom: Goldstein & Horwitz On 38 Studios Records 04-13-2017, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

How May The United States Leverage Fatca To Incentivize Good Tax Administrations Among The World Of Black Hat And Grey Hat Governments?, William H. Byrnes

William H. Byrnes

How May The United States Leverage Its Fatca Iga Bilateral Process To Incentivize Good Tax Administrations Among The World Of Black Hat And Grey Hat Governments? A Carrot & Stick Policy Proposal, William Byrnes

Faculty Scholarship

Professor William Byrnes examines whether it is prudent for taxpayers to trust the governments of the 117 countries that scored a fifty or below on Transparency International’s corruption index. The complete information system invoked by the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) encourages, even prolongs, the bad behavior of black hat governments by providing fuel (financial information) to feed the fire of corruption and suppression of rivals. Professor Byrnes recommends that the United States leverage a “carrot-stick” policy tool to incentivize bad actors to adopt best tax administration practices.

Mccutcheon V. Federal Election Commission And The Supreme Court's Narrowed Definition Of Corruption, Mikala L. Noe

Maine Law Review

On June 17, 1972, five men were caught attempting to bug the offices of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate complex in Washington D.C. The first link between this break-in and President Richard Nixon’s re-election campaign funds was discovered when a $25,000 cashier’s check, earmarked for Nixon’s re-election fund, was found to have been deposited into the bank account of one of the men involved in the break-in. Shortly thereafter, reporters revealed that then U.S. Attorney General John N. Mitchell controlled a secret campaign fund used to gather information about the Democratic Party. During the resulting Watergate investigation, the …

Jobs For Justice(S): Corruption In The Supreme Court Of India, Madhav S. Aney, Shubhankar Dam, Giovanni Ko

Research Collection School Of Economics

We investigate whether judicial decisions are affected by career concerns of judges byanalysing two questions: Do judges respond to pandering incentives by ruling in favourof the government in the hope of receiving jobs after retiring from the Court? Does thegovernment actually reward judges who ruled in its favour with prestigious jobs? To answerthese questions we construct a dataset of all Supreme Court of India cases involving thegovernment from 1999 till 2014, with an indicator for whether the decision was in its favouror not. We find that pandering incentives have a causal effect on judicial decision-making.The exposure of a judge to …

Political Corruption: Afflicting America And Affairs Abroad, Matthew Diller, Giselle Sedano, Sean J. Griffith, Susan Rose-Ackerman, Zachary S. Brez, Michael J. Cohn, Timothy J. Treanor

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

Guide To Land Contracts: Forestry Projects, International Senior Lawyers Project, Kaitlin Y. Cordes, Sam Szoke-Burke

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Agricultural investment contracts and forestry projects can be complex, with complicated provisions that are difficult to understand. To assist non-lawyers in better understanding agricultural investment contracts, such as those available on the Open Land Contracts repository, CCSI has developed a Guide to Land Contracts: Forestry Projects.

This Guide, prepared by International Senior Lawyers Project staff and volunteers in collaboration with the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, aims to assist the Open Land Contracts repository users in unpacking the technical provisions and language typically found in forestry contracts in order to better understand the contracts and the potential implications of …

Taking A Byte Out Of Corruption: A Data Analytic Framework For Cities To Fight Fraud, Cut Costs, And Promote Integrity, Center For The Advancement Of Public Integrity

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

In recent years, the emerging science of data analytics has equipped law enforcement agencies and urban policymakers with game-changing tools. Many leaders and thinkers in the public integrity community believe such innovations could prove equally transformational for the fight against public corruption. However, corruption control presents unique challenges that must be addressed before city watchdog agencies can harness the power of big data. City governments need to improve data collection and management practices and develop new models to leverage available data to better monitor corruption risks.

To bridge this gap and pave the way for a potential data breakthrough in …

Recent Reforms Of Switzerland's Anti-Corruption Laws: What They Mean For International Sports Organizations, Nicole Gütling

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

Switzerland is perceived as one of the least corrupt countries in the world based on international rankings. According to the “Corruption Perception Index” of Transparency International, Switzerland has regularly been rated among the top eight least corrupt countries since 2009. Even before then, since 1995 in fact, Switzerland has consistently received good rankings on integrity. However, recent corruption allegations in the world of football, particularly the cases involving the FIFA World Cup 2018 and 2022, have led to international scrutiny of the effectiveness of Switzerland’s anti-money laundering and anti-corruption regimes. This issue is particularly significant for Switzerland, which is home …

The Corruption Case Of Former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Center For The Advancement Of Public Integrity

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

Sheldon Silver is the former Democratic Speaker of the New York State Assembly, a post he held from 1994 until January 2015. He represented Manhattan’s Lower East Side from 1976 until November 30, 2015, when he was convicted on four counts of honest-services fraud, two counts of extortion and one count of money laundering. On July 13, 2017, his convictions were overturned.

The Lulu Stipend, Center For The Advancement Of Public Integrity

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

A “lulu” is a stipend available to New York State legislators for their work in leadership roles, such as committee chairperson. The stipends are in addition to legislator’s $79,500 base pay. Stipends range in value, from $9,000 for a ranking minority member of a committee, up to $41,500 for the temporary president of the Senate. The head of each State legislative body, the Speaker of the Assembly, and the Temporary President of the Senate direct the payment of these stipends. By law, no legislator may receive more than one stipend at a time. Because legislators routinely serve in more than …

Where Are We Today In The International Fight Against Overseas Corruption: An Historical Perspective, And Two Problems Going Forward, Frederick T. Davis

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

The goal of my comments is to take a step back and begin with an historical perspective on the collective, international effort to fight corruption, and then to suggest two problems that effort faces today.

The Foreign Emoluments Clause: Protecting Our National Security Interests, Deborah Samuel Sills

Journal of Law and Policy

Classical republican ideals played an important role in the formation of our country. Guided by these ideals, several provisions were included in the Constitution to protect the United States from these harms, including the Emoluments Clause. This Clause prohibits United States officials from accepting certain types of benefits from foreign nations, except with Congress's consent. It protects our national interests by ensuring that federal officials remain free from improper pressures from foreign states and act for the welfare of our country. This provision promotes transparency and accountability and helps guard against corrupt influences that could undermine, and even destroy, a …

Equitable Relief For Private Rico Plaintiffs: Using Donziger To Remedy Courthouse Corruption, Anna Hanke

Journal of Law and Policy

In Chevron Corp. v. Steven Donziger, the Southern District of New York granted Chevron an injunction against Donziger under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, preventing the enforcement of an Ecuadorean judgment against it in the United States. This Note discusses the circuit court split on whether injunctive relief may be granted in a civil RICO suit, arguing that injunctive relief is an available remedy within the statute’s plain meaning, legislative intent, and evolving jurisprudence of civil RICO. The Note applies the Donziger interpretation of RICO to a case of a similarly corrupted judgment, Caperton v. A.T. Massey …

Brazil's Olympic-Era Anti-Corruption Reforms, Andrew B. Spalding

Law Faculty Publications

A country once renowned for glorifying corruption now leads what may be the furthest-reaching anti-corruption investigation in history. Brazil, once typified by its "Brazilian jeitinho" way of creatively navigating social problems,' now executes "Operation Car Wash," bringing down political and business leaders by the dozens. So too has Brazil's Congress adopted a series of dramatic, and effective, new anti-corruption laws, in response to public outcries for reform. It is deeply ironic, but not at all coincidental, that Brazil concurrently hosted the Summer Olympics. This paper chronicles the extraordinary series of events that connect - in a line that is straight …

Equitable Relief For Private Rico Plaintiffs: Using Donziger To Remedy Courthouse Corruption, Anna Hanke

Journal of Law and Policy

In Chevron Corp. v. Steven Donziger, the Southern District of New York granted Chevron an injunction against Donziger under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, preventing the enforcement of an Ecuadorean judgment against it in the United States. This Note discusses the circuit court split on whether injunctive relief may be granted in a civil RICO suit, arguing that injunctive relief is an available remedy within the statute’s plain meaning, legislative intent, and evolving jurisprudence of civil RICO. The Note applies the Donziger interpretation of RICO to a case of a similarly corrupted judgment, Caperton v. A.T. Massey …

America's Familial Tribalism: Will It Impact Education Internationally?, Amra Sabic-El-Rayess, Alexandra Seeman

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

With President Trump in power, the United States may have entered a new era of familial tribalism, a style of governing that could best be depicted as a sudden disruption to the traditional democratic governance and merited mobility the United States has historically promoted both at home and abroad. With this form of familial tribalism, a new level of power has been given to the members of the First Family, resulting in the United States increasingly mirroring the modus operandi of many developing countries that it had formerly criticized for their own lack of ethics, transparency, and competence …

Snowing And Towing In Montréal: The Inspector General's Fight Against Collusion In Two Industries, The Office Of The Inspector General Of Montréal

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

Offices of Inspectors General (OIGs) provide a highly valuable service by fostering and promoting integrity, transparency, and accountability in government. These offices provide independent oversight and monitor governmental operations, acting as watchdogs for the people and helping to maintain or restore the public’s confidence in their institutions.

The mandate of Montréal’s OIG is to conduct administrative investigations and to oversee contracting processes and the implementation of contracts by the City of Montréal in order to prevent breaches of integrity and violations of rules. Created in 2014, Montréal’s OIG has already had a meaningful impact on public procurement and management policies. …

Assessing Australia's National Integrity Framework: A New Way Forward, Anita Das

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

Historically, Australia has not been regarded as a particularly corrupt country. In 2012, Transparency International ranked Australia as the 7th least corrupt country in its Corruption Perceptions Index. This ranking has deteriorated six places in four years; in 2016, Australia landed in 13th place on the same index.

This sharp decline, in conjunction with continued revelations of corrupt conduct in the public, private and union sectors, has resulted in unprecedented national attention on corruption issues. As a result, the Australian federal government is currently considering a suite of reforms related to anti-corruption enforcement, including the introduction of deferred prosecution agreements, …

Independent Inspectors General Under Siege: A Tale Of Two State Inspectors General, Mary Jane Cooper, Stephen Street

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

Advocates for transparent and corruption-free government agree that independent Inspectors General are a critical asset in ensuring that public funds are not wasted or endangered by corrupt officials. More and more states and cities in the U.S. now have Inspectors General as part of their oversight structures, and the numbers keep going up.

But setting up an Inspector General’s office and providing it with some form of independent powers and a budget does not always guarantee a happy ending for seekers of honest and efficient government, even when an OIG is demonstrably successful at its mission of saving taxpayer money …

Sports Corruption: The History And Challenges Of Anti-Doping Regimes In The U.S. And Abroad, Shlomo Fischer

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

The International Olympic Committee first began drug-testing in response to the death of Knud Enemark Jensen, a Danish cyclist who collapsed of heatstroke during the 1960 Olympics in Rome and whose autopsy suggested that amphetamines played a role in his death. A wide range of performance enhancing substances was formally banned, and doping tests were administered to preserve the integrity of competition and to protect the health of athletes. The IOC’s initial regime was neither systematic nor robust, lacking both methodologically and technologically. However, the gap between doping and monitoring gradually began to close as testing became more accurate and …

Data Analytics, The Next Frontier: Taking A Byte Out Of Corruption, Shlomo Fischer

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

In June 2017, CAPI presented the second installment of our signature conference, Global Cities II, which brought together anti-corruption leaders from government and civil society worldwide, including delegates from Bogotá, Cape Town, London, Melbourne, Miami, Montréal, New York, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, and San Francisco, to discuss important topics such as using data analytics to combat corruption, government transparency, enforcement challenges and victories, and innovations in oversight.