Even a casual glance at recent business news makes one thing abundantly clear: Corporate governance is back under the microscope. With that attention come new challenges and opportunities for corporate legal departments.
In some ways, we’re ending the decade much as we started it. As Enron and other companies collapsed in 2001 and 2002, the corporate legal community adapted to Sarbanes-Oxley and similar legal changes. To the extent it appeared during the past couple of years that a respite was emerging, the events of recent months have laid that thought to rest. Confidence in the business community has tumbled once again, and a new wave of governance issues is quickly emerging.
