The IBA/OECD/UNODC anti-corruption strategy for the legal profession

In April 2010, the International Bar Association (IBA), in cooperation with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), launched the Anti-Corruption Strategy for the Legal Profession, a global project which focuses on: the role lawyers play in international corruption; how international instruments and extraterritorial legislation apply to the legal practice; and methods to manage the risks of corruption in order to meet the demands and requirements of clients.

The ongoing global project focuses on the following main areas of action:

• Awareness raising and education campaigns for legal professionals and law students. This includes:

(i) in-country anti-corruption training geared towards private practitioners;
(ii) the development of educational tools and materials for law schools; and
(iii) specialised sessions at IBA conferences to follow-up and analyse the developments and achievements of this strategy.

•  Reporting on the impact and challenges that corruption brings to the practice of law. This includes a Global Anti-Corruption Report for the Legal Profession, launched in 2010, and a series of research papers and case stories.

• Creation of anti-corruption guidelines and tools for bar associations, law firms and compliance officers.

Research and analysis

The initial report on the risks and threats of corruption for the legal profession was launched at the IBA Annual Conference in Vancouver in October 2010.

The major findings were as follows:

• More than a fifth of respondents said they have or may have been approached to act as an agent or middleman in a transaction that could reasonably be suspected to involve international corruption. Nearly a third of respondents said a legal professional they know has been involved in international corruption offences.

• Nearly 40 per cent of respondents had never heard of the major international instruments that make up the international anti-corruption regulatory framework, such as the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention and the UN Convention against Corruption.

• The level of awareness of the existence of anti-corruption extraterritorial legislation is higher than that of the international legal instruments: 60 per cent of survey respondents were aware of the FCPA and its scope, while 30 per cent were aware of the UK Bribery Act and its scope.

• A total of 42 per cent of respondents agreed that national anti-corruption laws and regulations were effective in preventing both inbound and outbound international corruption compared to five years ago.

• Only 43 per cent of respondents recognised that their bar associations provide some kind of anti-corruption guidance for legal practitioners. Of these, only a third said that such guidance specifically addresses the issue of international corruption.

• Less than 40 per cent of respondents said anti-corruption was a priority at their law firm and just under a third said that their firms do not have a clear and specific anti-corruption policy.

The need for training

As evidenced by the major findings of the 2010 report, many legal professionals remain unaware of the implications that corruption can have on their livelihood. Yet, they are being increasingly exposed to the risks, threats and challenges of being potential intermediaries for illicit transactions, particularly as the international anti-corruption regulatory framework becomes progressively sophisticated. As a result, clients, especially multinationals, have started requiring their external counsel to have a robust internal compliance programme in place before engaging their legal services.

To ensure not only the probity of the legal profession, but also the competitiveness of law firms to secure business from new and existing clients, it is essential that law firms (and individual practitioners) manage their practices as any other business affected by the risks, threats and challenges of corruption, including understanding what sanctions may be imposed for deliberate or inadvertent corruption and corruption-related activities, and implementing adequate compliance programmes to identify, address and resolve potential threats.

To this end, in-country training began in the second semester of 2010, initially comprised of workshops with managing partners and senior representatives of the most representative law firms in five Latin American jurisdictions: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. In 2011, workshops were held in Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, Brazil and Venezuela, while in 2012 training was expanded to Europe, Africa and Oceania. So far in 2013, workshops have been held in Madrid and Barcelona, with further sessions scheduled to take place in Zimbabwe, Vietnam, Kenya, the Philippines and Nigeria.

Anti-corruption guidance for bar associations

On 25 May 2013, The IBA Council – the governing body of the International Bar Association – approved a 13-page document entitled IBA Anti-Corruption Guidance for Bar Associations: Creating, Developing and Promoting Anti-Corruption Initiatives for the Legal Profession.

The first of a range of practical and substantive recommendations to assist bar associations in developing their anti-corruption policies, the anti-corruption guidance was drafted by the IBA’s legal projects team in conjunction with an expert consultation group comprised of members of the IBA Bar Issues Commission and the IBA Anti-Corruption Committee.

Michael Reynolds, president of the International Bar Association, commented: “Anti-corruption compliance poses a real challenge for lawyers. The new anti-corruption guidance is an important tool that can be used by bar associations to educate lawyers and bring about reform.”

He added: “While recognising that each association has unique needs, capacity and resources, associations are perfectly placed to galvanise support for anti-corruption measures among their respective memberships and jurisdictions. It is our hope that implementation of the guidance will be widespread across continents.”

James Klotz, IBA management board member and immediate past hair of the IBA Bar Issues Commission, stated: “IBA Council approval of the anti-corruption guidance marks an important stage in the international legal community’s condemnation of, and fight against, corruption, with lawyers being key players in the global battle.’

He added: “Inspired by the ethos of the guidance, the Canadian Bar Association has created the Canadian Bar Association anti-corruption team, a policy unit designed to focus and develop the Canadian legal profession’s anti-corruption efforts. I hope that similar initiatives will develop around the world.”

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