Caution by Company Officers Can Create Problems for Boards
The pursuit of legitimate corporate strategic goals is increasingly running into the concerns of corporate officers who see themselves at greater personal legal risk if there are ever allegations of corporate misconduct, writes Michael W. Peregrine, a partner at the law firm McDermott Will & Emery in an article in The New York Times.
He writes that new enforcement policies from the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission regarding individual culpability of corporate officials contributed to this tendency.
He outlines some that proposals that “should help reduce the anxiety of gatekeepers and other management team members concerning their personal liability exposure. In so doing, these steps may remove unnecessary barriers to the use of corporate strategies.”