Law Commons^™

Feature Comment: Ethics, Compliance, And The Dispiriting Saga Of Craig Whitlock’S Fat Leonard, Steven L. Schooner

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This essay discusses the forthcoming book, Fat Leonard: How One Man Bribed, Bilked, and Seduced the U.S. Navy (480 pp, Simon & Schuster, 2024), authored by Washington Post investigative reporter, Craig Whitlock. The book chronicles the extraordinary ''Fat Leonard" saga (or scandal), involving Glenn Marine, an Asia-based ship husbanding contractor, and its "business" with the U.S. Navy. The animating character, not surprisingly, is Leonard Francis, and the book spans his career and demise, which eventually prompted investigations (of hundreds of Naval servicemembers, including 90 admirals), multiple criminal plea bargains, and a staggering number of military administrative actions.

On the one …

Strange Bedfellows? Representative Democracy And Academic Engagement With The Defense Industry, Steven L. Schooner, Evan Matsuda

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This chapter concludes a book that grew out of 2015 a conference hosted by the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law, which brought together defense industry leaders, academics, and lawyers to discuss ethical challenges to the defense industry. Authors from the academy, practitioners, and policy-makers offer perspectives and insights such that the collection spans a broad range of disciplines, from philosophy, economics, law, and political science, to the management of corporate compliance.

In addition to attempting (no doubt unsuccessfully) to tie many of the book's themes together, the chapter itself asserts that the academic community …

Canada's Integrity Regime: The Corporate Grim Reaper, Jessica Tillipman, Samantha Block

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

In 2019, SNC-Lavalin made global headlines after it was revealed that the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, had interfered in the prosecution of the company for the bribery of Libyan officials. Although the scandal was primarily viewed as political, it also highlighted flaws in Canada’s Integrity Regime; specifically, the regime’s unworkable and draconian approach to debarment. This Article will address the pressing need in Canada to modify its debarment remedy and enact a system that more effectively protects the government’s interests. To illuminate the current issues facing Canada’s Integrity Regime, this Article will begin by examining Canada’s debarment system, outlining …

Mckinsey & Company’S Conduct And Conflicts At The Heart Of The Opioid Epidemic, Hearing Before The House Committee On Oversight And Reform, Jessica Tillipman

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

On April 27, 2022, Jessica Tillipman, Assistant Dean for Government Procurement Law Studies at The George Washington University Law School testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform regarding McKinsey & Company's potential Organizational Conflict of Interest between its contracts with the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and its commercial, opioid manufacturer clients. Her testimony addressed the longstanding need to update and clarify the current legal framework governing Organizational Conflicts of Interest (OCIs) in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and the importance of government contractors maintaining strong internal ethics and compliance programs.

Organizational Conflicts Of Interest: Cautionary Tales, Jessica Tillipman

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

A recent, high-profile investigation involving McKinsey & Company (McKinsey) and its contracts with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reminded us that organizational conflicts of interest (OCIs) are an integrity issue that never should be written off as a check-the-box exercise during the procurement process. This incident highlighted the need to address critical gaps in this area of the law. This article appeared in the August 2022 issue of Contract Management magazine published by the National Contract Management Association. Used with permission.

Using Ai To Reduce Performance Risk In U.S. Procurement, Jessica Tillipman

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

In recent years, several U.S. government agencies have pioneered the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies to improve the efficiency and accuracy of their "responsibility determinations" (reviews of, among other things, contractor representations and certifications, past performance history, civil and criminal settlements, exclusions (such as suspensions or debarments), and contract terminations). As federal agencies continue to think strategically about how to improve processes and reduce risk in their procurements, technology-driven solutions will play a critical role in this undertaking.

The Compliance Mentorship Program: Improving Ethics And Compliance In Small Government Contractors, Jessica Tillipman, Vijaya Surampudi

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Over the past decade, the anti-corruption, ethics, and compliance landscape has changed dramatically. This is a direct consequence of a global anti-corruption enforcement effort led by the United States through its enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The increase in enforcement has also been spurred by the adoption of several multilateral anti-corruption agreements, such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Anti-Bribery Convention and the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC). These agreements have spurred several countries to enact anti-corruption laws, such as the U.K. Bribery Act, Brazil’s Clean Company Act, and France’s Loi Sapin II. The …

Gifts, Hospitality & The Government Contractor, Jessica Tillipman

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

The government procurement process demands the highest commitment to ethical and unbiased conduct. To ensure that the individuals involved in the procurement process adhere to these standards, government entities in nearly all jurisdictions around the world have enacted codes of conduct, ethical restrictions, and anti-corruption laws designed to protect the integrity of government and ensure that government officials act impartially and do not give preferential treatment to any private organization or individual. To further these goals, most jurisdictions have enacted restrictions on the gifts and hospitality that government officials may accept from individuals and organizations that sell goods and services …

Government Lawyering, Jessica Tillipman, Robert B. Mahini

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

The legal profession is regulated with numerous ethical rules designed to ensure that practitioners comply with its high standards of professional conduct. Federal Government attorneys, while generally held to the same ethical standards as other attorneys, are subject to an additional set of requirements mandated by federal laws and regulations. This article focuses on the rules most crucial to the protection of the public welfare: 1) Government attorneys’ ethical obligations, and 2) Government attorneys’ duty to properly control information.

Government attorneys of the Executive Branch must comply with the “Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch.” This …

A Prescription To Retire The Rhetoric Of 'Principles-Based Systems' In Corporate Law, Securities Regulation And Accounting, Lawrence A. Cunningham

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This Article corrects widespread misconception about whether complex regulatory systems can be fairly described as either "rules-based" or "principles-based" (also called "standards-based"). Promiscuous use of these labels has proliferated in the years since the implosion of Enron Corp. While the concepts of rules and principles (or standards) are useful to classify individual provisions, they are not scalable to the level of complex regulatory systems. The Article uses examples from corporate law, securities regulation and accounting to illustrate this problematic phenomenon before turning to a series of possible explanations for the widespread use of these misleading labels. The piece contributes to …

Educating Lawyers For The Future Legal Profession, Thomas D. Morgan

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

What today's law students do as lawyers will be profoundly affected by changes their clients experience. Clients are likely to face more global competition than earlier generations could imagine, and they are likely to value lawyers who understand the non-legal aspects of their problems. Tomorrow's lawyers are likely to have to be more specialized than their predecessors, and many will deliver services that are less personal, more commodity-like, and less financially rewarding. Legal education, in turn, faces challenges producing lawyers capable of functioning in that world. Future lawyers will have to be simultaneously more specialized and more capable of responding …