Confidential Client Communications? Maybe Not

Former SEC Chairman William H. Donaldson noted in a March 5, 2004 speech that SOX was needed to deal with 'a general erosion of standards of integrity and ethics in the corporate and financial world ... The acquiescence by the gatekeepers, like accountants, who turned their backs or actually condoned such accounting manipulation, combined with stock option incentives to management, fueled the short-term focus.' Ironically, the SEC and the Department of Justice, which enforce SOX's criminal provisions, appear ready to burden the traditional ethical obligations of corporate legal counselors to keep client communications confidential in an effort to police the integrity and ethics of other corporate gatekeepers.

21 minute read June 28, 2006 at 09:11 AM
By
Steve Wheeless
Confidential Client Communications? Maybe Not

Former SEC Chairman William H. Donaldson noted in a March 5, 2004 speech that SOX was needed to deal with 'a general erosion of standards of integrity and ethics in the corporate and financial world … The acquiescence by the gatekeepers, like accountants, who turned their backs or actually condoned such accounting manipulation, combined with stock option incentives to management, fueled the short-term focus.'

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