In late 2021, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced a slate of corporate enforcement policy changes, collectively known as the “Monaco Memo.” Unfortunately, as ILR’s research shows, these changes appear rushed and insufficiently developed; they are not supported by—and may actually be contradicted by—relevant data; and they will likely have unintended and undesirable consequences. Among the latter, the corporate enforcement changes in the Monaco Memo and subsequent commentary by the U.S. Department of Justice are likely to make compliance and cooperation with the government harder for companies.
As the paper points out, rather than advancing transparency, consistency, and predictability in corporate enforcement policy, the Monaco Memo backtracks on prior improvements made on all of these fronts. The paper calls on the public, companies, and corporate counsel to be vigilant in preserving those prior improvements to the greatest degree possible.
