Robust Antitrust Compliance Program Can Have Big Payoff

Today’s General Counsel columnist Jeffery Cross, Freeborn & Peters, details the benefits of a strong antitrust compliance program, one that includes training for sales and marketing teams. Preventing illegal activity is the first and most obvious benefit, but there are others. In the event there is a violation and charge, a strong antitrust compliance program will reduce a company’s “culpability score,” a number that judges use when applying the sentencing guidelines. It may also help make the case against vicarious company liability for a rogue employee, or be used in a “leniency” computation that can reduce penalties when a company does sustain a charge.