The DOJ have confirmed that David Gold, the former litigator and newly retired senior partner of UK litigation powerhouse, Herbert Smith, has been appointed as independent corporate monitor of BAE Systems. His role commences now, for at least 3 years, and will involve assessing and monitoring BAE Systems’ compliance with an agreement it entered into earlier this year with the DOJ (more here, and here). The role will include the evaluation of practices put in place after Lord Woolf was appointed by the company to investigate its ethical conduct in 2007.
Gold stated:
“One of my big jobs will be to see how much work’s been done to bring the report alive”
He will apparently be in touch with Woolf during the first phase of the appointment.
It would be unfair to leave the topic without commenting briefly on the question of conflict. As highlighted by the FCPA Professor, here, BAE are a long standing client of Herbert Smith, and indeed previously represented Saudi Prince Bandar – the person at the epicenter of BAE’s alleged Saudi bribery scheme who received £1bn from BAE. Good points from the Professor, but will this compromise Gold? I don’t really think it will. The role of the monitor is to look at BAE’s systems and procedures, and lead – in the public spotlight – a team of lawyers and accountants that can do that. Gold has lots of experience doing that, and I think he’s well suited to the role. He’s not there to rake over the coals of BAE’s corporate history.
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