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Milking Sarbanes-Oxley: merging law and compliance under the CLO

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The New York Times (May 15, 2005 at BU5) ran an article about SOX and compliance. It quoted an editor of Compliance Week: “The big story is that Sarbanes-Oxley has shifted the power center at public companies by homogenizing the roles of the general counsel and the compliance officer.”

Homogenized milk doesn’t separate into cream and milk, but the roles of general counsel – providing legal advice – and the chief compliance officer – assuring procedures meet legal requirements – remain fairly separate. [See my post of March 26, 2005 on two-tiers of staff.] If you combine promoting business (law) and enforcing regulations (compliance), do you create a no-fat department – watered down and less effectual in both roles?

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One response to “Milking Sarbanes-Oxley: merging law and compliance under the CLO”

  1. Inside Opinions: Legal Blogs says:
    May 23, 2005 at 3:00 pm

    Has SOX homogenized the roles of GCs and compliance officers?

    Responding to a quote in The New York Times, Rees Morrison says he doesn’t think so, but he raises a question about the fallout for companies who depend on both these roles: