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58
Peer to Peer
Simplifying
Risk and
Compliance
Challenges
A
s we enter a new decade, the legal industry is
faced with a wide range of risk, governance and
compliance challenges. Some of these challenges
are opportunities in disguise. A rapidly changing
regulatory and legal landscape can often mean
new avenues of legal work for the practitioners who have
successfully adapted. The top cost, risk and regulatory issues
facing the legal industry include:
• Regulatory Pressures:
It's no surprise that the Obama administration, both as a
reaction to the financial abuses and as an attempt to curb the
perceived laissez-faire attitude of past administrations, has
stepped up its regulatory pressure. As part of the President's
call for a "more vigorous regulatory regime," we can certainly
expect the epicenter to be the financial services sector, but
there will be ripples affecting other segments as well. Increased
regulatory oversight will span a wide spectrum, including new
environmental laws, the Patriot Act, climate change regulations
and even laws with a more global reach such as the Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
• corporate crackdowns:
The increased, or simply amended, regulatory initiatives will
mean that more regulators will be stepping up enforcement
activities, all to the chagrin of corporate America. On the other
by Dean Gonsowski, Esq.
