Proactive Planning in this Regulatory Environment: Hope is not an Option
My father is a military man. Accordingly, all things in life, from mundane trips to the grocery store to complex life decisions like planning for and choosing a college, was subject to careful, deliberate planning. Digesting evidence and facts was a far better road than the proverbial “crossing of fingers” and trusting that “it will all work out for the best.” Former NYC mayor Rudolph Guiliani said it best when he announced that “Hope is not a strategy.” I was reminded of this adage when reading a few industry reports compiling data points about corporate legal departments and the ever –increasing complexity of the regulatory environment. Here are some shockers:
My father is a military man. Accordingly, all things in life, from mundane trips to the grocery store to complex life decisions like planning for and choosing a college, was subject to careful, deliberate planning. Digesting evidence and facts was a far better road than the proverbial “crossing of fingers” and trusting that “it will all work out for the best.” Former NYC mayor Rudolph Guiliani said it best when he announced that “Hope is not a strategy.”
I was reminded of this adage when reading a few industry reports compiling data points about corporate legal departments and the ever –increasing complexity of the regulatory environment. Here are some shockers:
Document Automation For Law Firms: The Definitive Guide
- almost half (47%) of the respondents to a recent Grant Thorton GC Survey stated that they have not implemented compliance guidelines because they lacked familiarly with the SEC and DOJ Guidelines.
- Among the organizations that have not implemented, the reasons provided included: lack of staffing and budget; difficulty managing across jurisdictions; and too many regulations to stay on top of.
- Additionally, according to the 2015 ACC Chief Legal Officer Survey, only a mere eleven percent (11%) of respondents were proactively addressing legal and regulatory trends that posed a threat to their company’s business.
In times of increased regulatory risk, as we are in now, it’s hard to imagine that a legal department not proactively addressing these types of issues. While it is only a probability (and a rising one at that) that a regulator might show up at company’s doorstep, it is a certainty that the excuses, like the ones shared above, are unlikely to be accepted with forgiveness. Due to costs—economic, reputational—for these companies, hope is not an option for these legal departments.