In recent years, we have witnessed a strong trend of increased enforcement and supervision, as well as expansion of the responsibilities imposed on corporations, their directors and officers within them, who are required to meet a wide range of regulatory and legal standards in a variety of corporate activities—capital markets, bribery and corruption, money laundering, competition, cyber and privacy protection, labor law, safety and hygiene at work, environmental protection and more.
These changes and trends have increased exposure for corporations and their officers at the criminal, administrative and civil levels alike. To reduce the risk of violations and prevent offenses, the corporation is required to take precautionary measures with the preventive purpose of implementing norms for compliance with the provisions of the law, preventing crimes, dealing with violations, and creating positive incentives. One of the standard measures, which the regulator and the courts also recognize as an effective preventive tool, is the establishment of effective internal enforcement and compliance program in the organization.
The purpose of the compliance program is to promote the organizational implementation of the provisions of the law to try and prevent violations, avoid their legal consequences and reduce the legal exposure of the corporation, its directors and officers. The program is aimed to establish a system of channels for supervision, overseeing and reporting measures that will ensure compliance with the law and regulations concerning corporations.
The operational and professional management of the compliance and enforcement field is led by Adv. Hila Shimon, a partner with extensive experience in representing clients in white-collar and compliance matters.
The Risk Advisory and Compliance Services department in our firm is the first in Israel to unite this field as a whole under one legal “roof.” It provides services to the largest and leading companies in Israel to create an effective internal enforcement shell that will serve as the first line of defense for the corporation and its officers against violations and minimize the legal exposure of the corporation, its directors and its officers.
Our firm’s Risk Advisory and Compliance Services department provides pre-emptive and forward-looking advising services in the area of enforcement and compliance, including reviewing risks in the corporation’s operations and existing control and compliance mechanisms, implementing appropriate administrative norms and building internal organizational compliance and enforcement programs in a wide range of legal areas.
In this context, we advise the corporation on the procedures for mapping the corporation’s needs, conducting compliance surveys and building programs in a wide range of areas in a manner that is uniquely tailored to the corporation’s activities and character. We also assist in implementing existing compliance and enforcement programs while providing ongoing and close accompaniment to the corporation and holders of relevant positions—directors and managers, internal legal advisors, company secretary, compliance officers and others.
In addition, our legal team provides guidance and lectures in these areas to both the senior officers of the corporation and all its employees, focusing on the content relevant to the corporation in accordance with its areas of practice and activities.
Our firm is one of the leaders in Israel in the white-collar field and corporate affairs. We have many years of experience representing companies and their officers in criminal, administrative and civil proceedings. We provide our clients with a protective shell to reduce criminal and administrative exposures. The multidisciplinary knowledge that our firm has accumulated over the years makes it possible to provide the corporation, its managers and its officers, in addition to the pre-emptive and preventive system, also with legal assistance in each stage of the criminal and administrative proceedings — from regulatory supervision visits and investigations to hearings and proceedings before courts. In addition, our firm is also experienced in conducting investigations and in-house inspections, using the most advanced technological means in the legal market.
