NACDL

Verbatim

This speech was given at a dinner on May 23, 2006, hosted by the Civil Justice Reform Group, which is a group of in-house counsel of Fortune 100 companies that addresses legal reform issues at both the federal and state levels.

Good evening.

I’ve been asked to talk to you all about the importance and relevance of reforming our federal criminal laws, as they relate to the corporation. I kind of feel like I can get my point across by simply noting this: The state of corporate criminal law enforcement has inspired such widespread fear, that last week, we saw the U.S. Chamber of Commerce come to the defense of Milberg Weiss, which, by its own account was indicted in large part for refusing to waive its attorney-client privilege with its own defense lawyers. The Chamber said: “[I]t is fundamentally wrong for anyone to be denied the right to consult freely and confidentially with their attorney.” That’s it: Thank you and good night.

But, in fact, there’s much more evidence that crimi