WHY Compliance and Ethics
Some recent corporate scandals have once again highlighted the importance of an ethical corporate culture and an effective compliance and ethics program. Compliance and ethics departments focused on detecting and preventing legal violations have significantly expanded over the last 20 years, creating opportunities for students, attorneys, and other professionals.
This growth has resulted from a number of key developments. The Caremark decision in 1996 emphasized the role of board members in overseeing compliance programs, while the U.S. Sentencing Commission reinforced the importance of effective compliance programs in sentencing decisions. Multi-billion dollar prosecutions in the pharmaceutical and financial services industries have resulted in rigorous compliance programs and put CEOs and boards on notice that compliance is a front and center issue.
These long term trends have placed a premium on hiring talented compliance professionals. In a January 2014 article (“Compliance Officer: Dream Career”), the Wall Street Journal reported that HSBC added 1,600 compliance employees in 2013 while the Financial Times declared in 2014 that “the age of the compliance officer” had arrived. Like lawyers, compliance officers need to understand the laws and risks related to their organizations. They also need to have a deep understanding of their organization’s operations and be able to design controls to detect and prevent legal violations. Communicating the importance of compliance and ethics to diverse audiences—board members, executive management and employees—is essential.
Many lawyers are now shifting into compliance roles and attorneys are increasingly turning their focus to compliance and ethics as part of their daily work.
HOW the Center Can Help You
In 2015, Temple Law launched the Center for Compliance & Ethics with a mission to enable students to understand and prepare for compliance and ethics careers and to assist lawyers and professionals to further their careers in compliance. The Center also serves as a forum for public-private sector dialogues on compliance and ethics issues. The Center’s Advisory Board includes numerous compliance and ethics leaders from companies, law firms, accounting firms, and the public sector.
Temple students may now take courses as part of an overall compliance and ethics curriculum. As part of the Center’s Summer Compliance and Ethics Fellowship program or through an experiential learning practicum, students may gain experience working on compliance and ethics issues at organizations such as Aramark, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Chubb, Ernst & Young, Moody’s, Novo Nordisk, Olympus, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Tabula Rasa Healthcare, Temple University Health System, TrustArc, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO).
Each fall, the Center for Compliance & Ethics and the Office of Career Services hosts a panel on careers in compliance and ethics that represents the diverse opportunities that are available to students interested in compliance and ethics.
The Center and the Office of Career Services are also available to advise individual students. Mentoring and networking opportunities are also available through the Center’s Advisory Board which includes compliance and ethics, legal, and business leaders from various industries as well as the private and public sectors. To learn more about the Office of Career Services, please visit its website below.