The Washington Foreign Law Society
Presents
WFLS Series: Issues and Trends in International Anti-Corruption Law
(Part 3)
THE 2021 OECD ANTI-BRIBERY RECOMMENDATION: THE 2.0 TOOL FOR THE FIGHT AGAINST FOREIGN BRIBERY ?
Thursday, April 14, 2022
from 12:30 to 1:30 PM ET
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) 2021 Anti-Bribery Recommendation introduces new sections on the demand side of foreign bribery, sanctions and confiscation, non-trial resolutions, international co-operation, protection of reporting persons, incentives for compliance, and data protection. It broadens the scope of existing recommendations on investigations and enforcement, awareness raising and training, and public advantages, including public procurement. It also updates the Good Practice Guidance for companies on internal controls, ethics, and compliance programs or measures for preventing and detecting foreign bribery.
Join the Washington Foreign Law Society (WFLS) on Thursday, April 14, 2022 from 12:30 to 1:30 PM ET for a stimulating hour-long panel discussion on The 2021 OECD Anti-Bribery Recommendation: The 2.0 Tool For The Fight Against Foreign Bribery?, featuring Kathryn Nickerson, Assistant Chief Counsel in the Office of the Chief Counsel for International Commerce at the U.S. Department of Commerce, and member of the U.S. delegation to the OECD Working Group on Bribery, and Nicola Bonucci, Partner in the Global Trade and Investigations & White Collar Defense practices at Paul Hastings and former Director for Legal Affairs for the OECD.
WFLS President Michael Teodori will host the discussion, moderated by Pascale Helene Dubois, Independent International Anti-Corruption Expert, Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, and member of the WFLS Board of Governors.
Kathryn Nickerson is an Assistant Chief Counsel in the Office of the Chief Counsel for International Commerce at the U.S. Department of Commerce, where her principal area of practice is international trade law.
Ms. Nickerson is the lead counsel in the Department on international anticorruption issues, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). In this role, she provides general guidance on anticorruption issues to Commerce officials and the private sector, as well as FCPA counseling and training to the U.S. Commercial Service.
Ms. Nickerson participated in the drafting and negotiation of international and U.S. free trade agreements containing anticorruption and transparency provisions, including, most recently, the 2021 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Revised Recommendation for Further Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (Antibribery Recommendation) and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Ms. Nickerson assisted in the negotiations at the OECD of the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (Antibribery Convention) and the negotiations of the United Nations Convention against Corruption. She is a member of the U.S. delegation to the OECD Working Group on Bribery charged with monitoring the implementation of the Antibribery Convention, in which capacity she has participated in the review of numerous country reports.
Ms. Nickerson is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law. She graduated cum laude from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, where she earned a B.A. in Politics and French and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.
Nicola Bonucci is a Partner in the Global Trade and Investigations & White Collar Defense practices at Paul Hastings, based in the Paris office.
Previously, Mr. Bonucci served as the Director for Legal Affairs for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). He has been one of the most prominent international voices in anti-corruption and anti-bribery, having led the OECD’s efforts in this area for more than two decades. In advising clients, Mr. Bonucci draws on his international experience with compliance programs, investigations, and anti-corruption issues across various legal systems, as well as his deep knowledge of intergovernmental and multilateral processes.
Mr. Bonucci holds a DEA in Public International Law from the University of Paris X—Nanterre (1986), a DESS in International Administration from the University of Paris II—Assas (1987), and a Master’s Degree in International and Comparative Law from the University of Notre Dame (1988).
Moderator: Pascale Dubois. Ms. Dubois is an International Executive Advisor and Independent Expert who has been involved with anti-corruption efforts for two decades.
She recently retired from the World Bank Group (WBG) where she was the VP of the Integrity Vice Presidency (INT), leading the WBG’s investigative efforts and the pursuit of sanctions in connection with allegations of fraud and corruption on WBG-financed projects, in addition to corporate compliance and prevention. Ms. Dubois previously served as the World Bank’s first ever Chief Suspension and Debarment Officer (SDO), and prior to that she managed the groundbreaking Voluntary Disclosure Program in INT and also worked as an operational lawyer advising the Africa region of the World Bank for seven years. Before joining the WBG, Ms. Dubois was in private practice in the USA and Belgium for 10 years.
Ms. Dubois served as the Co-Chair of both the International Bar Association’s Anti-Corruption Committee as well as the American Bar Association Section of International Law’s Anti-Corruption Committee.
She is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and has been an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center since 2009, where she teaches a course on international anti-corruption. Ms. Dubois received her Lic. Jur., cum laude, from the University of Ghent, Belgium, and her LL.M. from New York University.
Host: Michael Teodori. Mr. Teodori is the President of the Washington Foreign Law Society. He is also a US Policy and Advocacy Specialist at Eni SpA, Italy’s largest energy company. Prior to joining Eni, Mr. Teodori was a Congressional Liaison Officer at the US politics and Congressional affairs office of the Italian Embassy in Washington DC, where he focused on US-Italy relations. Mr. Teodori was also a Schuman trainee at the European Parliament. In that capacity he worked at the European Parliament Liaison Office in Washington, DC, as well as at the European Parliament Legal Service in Brussels. Mr. Teodori holds a law degree from the University of Pavia (Italy) and a joint M.A. in transatlantic affairs from the College of Europe (Bruges) and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University (Medford, MA).
BACKGROUND READING MATERIALS: