As Transparency International’s Global Report on Judicial Corruption makes clear, “[c]orruption is undermining justice in many parts of the world, denying victims and the accused the basic human right to a fair and impartial trial.”1 Indeed, according to the organization’s most recent Global Corruption Barometer, over 33 percent of the respondents from the 60 countries polled believe their judicial systems are corrupt.2 The Global Corruption Barometer also makes clear that, with the exception of law enforcement, no institution is paid more bribes than the judiciary.3
Though judicial corruption in some foreign countries has been characterized as a “systemic problem,” the issue largely has been ignored or viewed as irrelevant by U.S. companies doing business in those jurisdictions. However, U.S. companies now are increasingly finding themselves embroiled in litigations in foreign jurisdictions. To represent them in these foreign disputes, companies are turning to local foreign attorneys, who in turn are interacting with judges, law clerks, and other foreign governmental officials on behalf of these companies. And where it is standard practice, these local counsel sometimes are making improper payments to such governmental officials.
