Guilty as Charged: The Yates Memo

Criminal Law & Procedure Practice Group Teleforum

On September 15, 2015, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates issued a much-talked about memo, directing federal prosecutors to focus their efforts on individual corporate wrong-doers, not just corporate entities. Unclear in the minds of many is just how much effort will now be expended on corporate entities vs. individuals. Some assert that prosecution of corporate entities is rarely a good idea, since the punishment negatively effects the shareholders, who were often the victims of the initial wrongdoing. Others note that it can be near impossible to prove what should be a required guilty state of mind in an individual operating within a corporate structure. More complications arise when individuals rely in good faith on legal advice from in-house or outside counsel.

Featuring:

• James R. Copland, Director, Center for Legal Policy, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research
• Paul Larkin, Senior Legal Research Fellow, Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, The Heritage Foundation
• Moderator: John G. Malcolm, Director, Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, and Ed Gilbertson and Sherry Lindberg Gilbertson Senior Legal Fellow, The Heritage Foundation

On September 15, 2015, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates issued a much-talked about memo, directing federal prosecutors to focus their efforts on individual corporate wrong-doers, not just corporate entities. Unclear in the minds of many is just how much effort will now be expended on corporate entities vs. individuals. Some assert that prosecution of corporate entities is rarely a good idea, since the punishment negatively effects the shareholders, who were often the victims of the initial wrongdoing. Others note that it can be near impossible to prove what should be a required guilty state of mind in an individual operating within a corporate structure. More complications arise when individuals rely in good faith on legal advice from in-house or outside counsel.

Featuring:

• James R. Copland, Director, Center for Legal Policy, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research
• Paul Larkin, Senior Legal Research Fellow, Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, The Heritage Foundation
• Moderator: John G. Malcolm, Director, Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, and Ed Gilbertson and Sherry Lindberg Gilbertson Senior Legal Fellow, The Heritage Foundation

Call begins at 2:00 pm Eastern Time.

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