Law Commons^™

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

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Agricultural investment contracts can be complex, with complicated provisions that are difficult to understand. This Guide provides explanations for a range of common provisions, and includes a Glossary of legal and technical terms. It assists non-lawyers in better understanding agricultural investment contracts, such as those available on the Open Land Contracts repository.

The Guide was prepared by International Senior Lawyers Project staff and volunteers in collaboration with the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment.

Suppressing Bid Rigging: Lessons From Japan, Takaki Soto

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

Bid rigging is a form of procurement fraud that occurs when participants in a bidding process for public contracts conspire to undermine the integrity or transparency of the process, sometimes with the complicity of public officials. Common examples of violations include collusion among bidders to fix a common price, requests for proposals deliberately and unnecessarily tailored so that only select bidders can meet their requirements, and lowballed bids with hidden costs and fees.

In Japan, where corruption is generally perceived to be relatively rare, bid rigging—nyusatsu dango—is a persistent and problematic form of public corruption. In many cases, …

The Conviction Of Alabama House Speaker Michael Hubbard, Center For The Advancement Of Public Integrity

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

Hubbard is the former speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives. First elected in 1998, he represented Auburn in the state legislature and served as House Minority leader from 2004 to 2010. As chairman of the Alabama Republican Party, Hubbard spearheaded his party’s successful effort to win control of both chambers of the state legislature for the first time in 136 years. In 2010, he was unanimously elected speaker and helped pass ethics laws considered among the nation’s strictest.

Profile In Public Integrity: David Harper, Center For The Advancement Of Public Integrity

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

David Harper was appointed as the Inspector General of Albuquerque, New Mexico, this past April. Prior to becoming Inspector General, Harper served for over three decades in the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI), conducting and overseeing financial investigations resulting in recoveries of over one billion dollars. Most recently, he served as AFOSI’s Chief of Economic Crimes Investigations. In that capacity, he directed staff support to the more than 200 AFOSI field and regional offices and oversaw over 500 financial crime investigations. Harper previously served as Special Agent-in-Charge of the AFOSI regional office in Boston, Massachusetts. He holds a …

Leveraging Resources And Relationships In Joint Corruption Investigations, Center For The Advancement Of Public Integrity

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

Prosecutors and investigators pursuing corruption cases need all the help they can get. Detecting and proving public integrity violations can require hours of work, specialized expertise, and sometimes expensive software or surveillance equipment. Collaboration across agency lines can be a force multiplier, bringing additional resources, expertise, and legal tools. Strong partnerships can also provide critical cover in politically sensitive cases, helping investigative agencies weather the storm and diffuse political risks.

This paper is intended to provide practical insights about the benefits and nuances of inter-agency cooperation on public integrity cases, as well as anticipated challenges. The paper ends with two …

Prison Corruption: The Problem And Some Potential Solutions, Center For The Advancement Of Public Integrity

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

Corruption occurs in the American prison system in a variety of forms. In the most basic version, correction officers accept bribes or sexual favors to smuggle weapons, drugs, or cell phones to inmates, or to provide inmates with other benefits. Other kinds of prison corruption can involve higher-level prison officials. For example, some prison officials have been implicated in pay-to-play schemes with private prisons. In other cases prison supervisors and administrators have been accused of covering up violations by correction officers or others within the prison, such as by shielding human rights abuses.

Strategies For Increasing And Improving Public Corruption Prosecutions: The Task Force Model, Center For The Advancement Of Public Integrity

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

Without a doubt, public corruption is the sort of crime that prosecutors and investigators everywhere would like to vigorously pursue. With the limited resources available to most of these offices and competing mandates to fight many other sorts of crime, however, how can offices expand their ability to do more corruption cases? One solution can be found in banding together as a task force. This brief provides examples of task forces around the country that could serve as models for an office or a jurisdiction looking to improve their capabilities to fight corruption effectively and efficiently.

What Do Corrupt Firms Have In Common? Red Flags Of Corruption In Organizational Culture, Alison Taylor

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

What kind of an organizational culture do corrupt companies tend to have? To answer this question, I conducted a study based on a review of academic literature as well as in-depth interviews with 23 prominent lawyers, investigators, scholars, and policymakers with firsthand knowledge of the inner workings of dozens of corrupt firms. They highlighted a number of common traits often missed by standard compliance processes that might be “red flags” for organizational corruption. These traits don’t guarantee corruption within an organization, but they do point to the conditions in which it thrives.

Senator Menendez And The Speech And Debate Clause, Center For The Advancement Of Public Integrity

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

Robert “Bob” Menendez is a United States Senator from New Jersey. He was appointed to the Senate in 2006 by newly elected Governor John Corzine to fill Corzine’s vacated seat. Menendez served two years as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, from 2013 to 2015, and remained that committee’s ranking Democrat until his indictment. He is also a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and the Committee on Finance. Between 1993 and 2006, Menendez represented New Jersey’s 13th district in the United States House of Representatives.

The Rikers Island Smuggling Bust, Center For The Advancement Of Public Integrity

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

Rikers Island is New York City’s primary jail complex, with a daily inmate population of approximately 10,000. The 400-acre complex consists of ten different jails that can hold up to 15,000 inmates in total. Rikers has come under criticism as a rise in violent attacks, between inmates and against corrections officers, has drawn public attention to perceived systemic corruption, abuses, and a culture of violence within the complex.

The Arrest Of Norman Seabrook And The Nypd Corruption Probe, Center For The Advancement Of Public Integrity

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

Since 1995, Norman Seabrook has served as president of the New York City Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association (COBA), the largest municipal jail union in the U.S. with a membership of more than 9,000. As president, Seabrook controls the union’s finances, including its welfare fund. COBA’s welfare fund, which supports benefits for members like dental care and prescription drug purchases, is funded by New York City as part of the union employees’ compensation packages.

The Trial Of Congressman Chaka Fattah, Center For The Advancement Of Public Integrity

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

Congressman Chaka Fattah has represented Pennsylvania’s 2nd District, which includes parts of Philadelphia, for 20 years.

On July 29, 2015, a federal Grand Jury indicted Congressman Fattah on 29 counts, including conspiracy to commit racketeering (RICO), bribery, money laundering, and fraud. The charges encompassed four co-conspirators as well, including Fattah’s chief of staff as well as a former Philadelphia deputy mayor.

Profile In Public Integrity: Robert Lafrenière, Center For The Advancement Of Public Integrity

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

Robert Lafrenière is the Commissioner of Quebec’s Permanent Anti-Corruption Unit (l’Unité permanente anticorruption, or UPAC), which he has led since its creation in 2011. In early 2016, he was appointed to a second five-year term. Prior to UPAC, Lafrenière served for two years as Deputy Minister of Quebec’s Ministry of Public Safety (ministère de la Sécurité publique du Québec, or MSP). Earlier in his career, Lafrenière served in Quebec’s provincial police force (Sûreté du Québec), and taught policing at the Collège de Maisonneuve in Montreal.

Profile In Public Integrity: Hubert Sparks, Center For The Advancement Of Public Integrity

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

Hubert Sparks was appointed the first inspector general of the Appalachian Regional Commission in 1989 and was also the first inspector general of the Denali Commission. Previously, Sparks served 29 years in oversight roles at Offices of the Inspector General at the Departments of Agriculture, Homeland Security, and Veteran’s Affairs. He is a member of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency and served on the President’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency. A native of Brooklyn, New York, Sparks holds a B.B.A. in accounting from the City College of New York.

Profile In Public Integrity: Josh Silver, Center For The Advancement Of Public Integrity

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

Josh Silver is the director of Represent.Us, a non-profit grassroots organization that advocates for anti-corruption legislation in states and local communities nationwide. Previously, he co-founded and led Free Press, a public interest organization that advocates for media and technology reform. Earlier, Silver served as the campaign manager for the successful Arizona Clean Elections ballot initiative in 1998, and also directed development for the cultural arm of the Smithsonian Institution.

Profile In Public Integrity: Drew Sullivan, Center For The Advancement Of Public Integrity

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

Drew Sullivan is currently an advising editor at the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Program (OCCRP) in Sarajevo, which he co-founded in 2006. Previously, he founded the Center for Investigative Reporting in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Journalism Development Network. He has received many honors for his investigative reporting on issues of transnational crime and corruption, including the Global Shining Light Award and the Online Journalism Award.

Profile In Public Integrity: Matthew Boxer, Center For The Advancement Of Public Integrity

Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (Inactive)

Matthew Boxer currently chairs the Corporate Investigations and Integrity practice group at Lowenstein Sandler, LLP. Previously, Boxer served six years as New Jersey’s first independent State Comptroller. In that role, he was responsible for auditing government finances, examining the efficiency of government programs, investigating misconduct by government officers, scrutinizing the legality of government contracts and recovering improperly expended Medicaid funds. Under Boxer’s leadership, the office uncovered hundreds of millions of dollars in waste and fraud.