Compliance Perspectives

By Adam Turteltaub For years Caremark has set the standard for expectations for board members. The notable Delaware case made clear that boards should exercise reasonable care in overseeing an organization. In practice that includes obtaining information about the organization’s compliance efforts and responding when signs of potential violations are found. As Jay Cohen, of counsel at the law firm Giordano, Halleran & Ciesla, PC explains, now a new decision (In re McDonald’s Corporation Stockholder Derivative Litigation) extends that same duty of oversight to corporate officers within their area of expertise. This significantly raises the bar for executives when it comes to ensuring the organization is operating in a compliant manner. Perhaps even more significantly, only two executives at a corporation – the CEO and Chief Compliance Officer – are expected to exercise oversight throughout the entire organization. This, he argues, has the impact of increasing both the scope and importance of the compliance