Charles Duross, who served as head of the Department of Justice's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act unit from April 2010 to Friday, January 24, will reportedly join the law firm Morrison and Foerster as a partner starting February 17. From the firm's press release:
"In the last two decades, there have been only three chiefs of DOJ's FCPA program, and Chuck is one them – recognized globally as the leading foreign bribery prosecutor in the United States," said Larren Nashelsky, chair of Morrison & Foerster. "His global role has included deep involvement with the OECD's effort to globalize anti-corruption enforcement, including close cooperation with law enforcement across the country and around the world. Chuck's intimate knowledge of the FCPA enforcement system he was instrumental in creating, along with his relationships with his fellow enforcement officials around the world, will be an invaluable asset to our clients. We are delighted he chose to join MoFo."...
According to Bradley S. Lui, Managing Partner of MoFo's Washington, D.C. office, Mr. Duross's stellar reputation precedes him. "Chuck is a highly accomplished trial lawyer whose expertise, energy, integrity and track record are well known and highly regarded across the Washington bar," said Mr. Lui. "His fresh insight into the government enforcement mindset immediately enhances our already considerable capacity to assist global companies in managing their risk and exposure arising from the FCPA and other anti-corruption laws and regulations. This complements the many services we currently provide to clients facing cross-border regulatory compliance and enforcement issues, including antitrust, privacy and data security, financial services, government contracts, and energy. We look forward to welcoming him to the D.C. office and the firm." [emphasis added]
A cynic might say that what is corrupt here isn't the practices of American companies overseas but a regulatory regime so arbitrary and complex that it winds up enriching the regulators (once they pass through the revolving door), because they are the only ones who understand how it works well enough to advise on it. Another case for the Glenn Reynolds anti-revolving door tax of "A 50% surtax on anything earned within five years after leaving the federal government, above whatever the federal salary was."
