How government enforcement of corporate crime may change in the forthcoming administration is of substantial interest to companies and practitioners alike. To assess any changes, however, starts with a firm grasp of recent trends and the current enforcement environment. Over the past several years, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Attorney’s Offices (USAO) nationwide implemented key changes in their corporate crime enforcement policies. At the same time, the DOJ updated its evaluation of corporate compliance programs (ECCP) guidance, which sets out the factors that the DOJ will consider when evaluating the adequacy of a company’s compliance program. Although such efforts to address corporate crime were certainly not new, the DOJ’s initiatives over the past several years reflected a more aggressive approach to holding companies and individuals accountable for corporate wrongdoing. That in turn required, and will continue to require, continuous vigilance in corporate compliance programs to mitigate risk in an ever more dynamic enforcement environment.

The recent trends in enforcement began to emerge in October 2021, in a speech by Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Lisa Monaco, who announced immediate steps that the DOJ would take to address corporate crime, including a renewed emphasis on individual accountability for corporate misconduct, stronger consideration of a company’s history of misconduct, and more widespread use of corporate monitorships. Monaco also announced the formation of a corporate crime advisory group, to review and propose revisions to the DOJ’s other corporate criminal enforcement policies.