Lee Surrenders and Hanson Wade’s Oil & Gas Supply Chain Compliance Conference

Today we celebrate one of the most momentous anniversary’s in the history of the United States, for it was on this day in 1865, 150 years ago, that Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to Union Commanding General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, effectively ending the American Civil War. Fighting continued for several more weeks to come, however with Lee’s surrender the Civil War had, in all intents and purposes, ended.

Lee and his troops were forced to abandon the Confederate capital of Richmond, they were blocked from joining the surviving Confederate force in North Carolina, and were harassed and outrun by Union cavalry, who took 6,000 prisoners at Sayler’s Creek. With desertions mounting daily the Confederates were surrounded with no possibility of escape. On April 9, Lee sent a message to Grant announcing his willingness to surrender and in the afternoon they met at the home of Wilmer McLean and agreed to the terms of surrender.

Although politicians would later change these terms quite dramatically, Grant is said to have told his officers, “The war is over. The Rebels are our countrymen again.”

Later this month, from April 28-30, Hanson Wade is putting on its annual conference in Houston. It is the “Oil and Gas Supply Chain Compliance” conference, now in its 5^th year, and once again the list of speakers is simply stunning. It includes the following Chief Compliance Officers (CCOs) and senior compliance folks: Dan Chapman, Cameron; Brian Moffatt, Ethos Energy, Jay Martin, Baker Hughes; Marcel De Chermont, Acteon Group, Jan Farley, Dresser-Rand; John Sardar, Noble Energy and a host of other luminaries in the field of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) compliance. Even if you live outside of Houston, the FCPA compliance talent at this event will rival any other event in the US and for such an event not held in Washington DC or New York City, it is simply outstanding.

Some of the panels and topics for discussion include: Applying Culturally Sensitive Approaches To Deliver A Core Compliance Methodology For A Variety Of Countries And Risks; How to Meaningfully Engage Your Business Operations in Taking Greater Compliance Ownership; Avoid The Risk Of Cavalier Behaviour Across The Supply Chain In The Face Of A Challenging Economic Climate; How To Deliver Cost-Effective, Risk Based, Function Specific Compliance Training; several in-depth presentations on Supply Chain and Third Party due diligence. These are but some of the sessions and there are many other excellent panels, sessions and speakers which I have not mentioned.

Recently the Event’s Chairperson, Dan Chapman, Vice President, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer for Cameron, talked about some of the issues that will be discussed in this year’s conference. Chapman said, “Supply chain is, in my mind, a critical part of compliance and creating awareness throughout the business as to when and where you should apply compliance principles is a key focus. For me the industry has evolved in recent years, and our organizations tend to now have strong legal teams who understand anti-bribery and corruption legislation. Not only this, they now have the ‘tone from the top’. Where I feel that work needs to be done is practically embedding compliance into operational processes, and becoming a true and valuable partner to the business. With the current state of the oil price, we’re likely set for reduced budgets and increased risk, which makes it more important now than ever to share stories, materials and solutions to effectively mitigate compliance risk while enabling business delivery.”

I will be speaking at the conference on internal controls but I am extremely pleased to be co-leading an in-depth workshop on the third day of the event, with Joe Oringel, guest blogger and Managing Director at VisualRisk IQ. In our workshop, you will learn how to implement a system of data-driven monitoring controls and documents to measure the effectiveness of your compliance program and get you through a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation. During our 3 hour session we will go into the weeds on the following:

• Understanding what internal controls are required under a best practices compliance program;
• Recognizing what FCPA enforcement actions tell us about internal controls in an anti-corruption compliance program;
• Getting to grips with what the SEC expects you to have in place;
• Competently documenting the effectiveness of your internal controls;
• Understanding best practices and a methodology for the use of data analytics in compliance and ethics organization;
• Prioritizing business and compliance questions that can be answered with analysis of digital data; and
• Identifying a learning plan and resources to enhance your team’s data analytics expertise

I hope that you can attend this most excellent FCPA conference with the two-day sessions on April 28 and 29 and the workshop day on April 30. Very few FCPA conferences focus on Supply Chain and the information that you will receive at this one will be first rate. Finally, Hanson Wade has allowed me to offer a 20% discount to readers of my blog. You can obtain it by entering the code TFLaw20 when you register online. For the conference brochure and full details regarding the agenda and registration, click here.

This publication contains general information only and is based on the experiences and research of the author. The author is not, by means of this publication, rendering business, legal advice, or other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such legal advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified legal advisor. The author, his affiliates, and related entities shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person or entity that relies on this publication. The Author gives his permission to link, post, distribute, or reference this article for any lawful purpose, provided attribution is made to the author. The author can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com.

© Thomas R. Fox, 2015