Raising the bar
Our clients take business integrity issues seriously because they understand the benefits of leadership in this area. They also understand the very real legal, financial and reputational risks of failing to engage.
Expertise
Our Business Integrity Group assists clients with legal issues in the business integrity space, both in proactively designing governance and compliance frameworks and in responding to crises and challenges.
The cross-practice team regularly engages with civil society and governmental groups in this area. We actively support and host Transparency International New Zealand, and regularly host events in the business integrity area, such as Women in Law and the Human Rights Commission’s Business and Human Rights Forum.
Our Business Integrity lawyers advise on:
- Human rights for business (under domestic laws like the Human Rights Act 1993, New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, Privacy Act 1993 and under international frameworks such as the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights).
- Governance systems and non-financial reporting.
- Due diligence and risk assessment.
- Public procurement.
- Preventing bribery and corruption.
- Anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.
- International sanctions compliance.
- Whistle-blowers and independent reporting systems.
- Internal investigations and public inquiries.
- Management of crises, sensitive issues and conflicts of interest.
- Responsible investment.
Experience
Our experience in this area includes advising:
- Financial institutions in developing anti-money laundering programmes and risk assessments.
- Financial institutions in responding to suspicious transactions and breaches of their anti-money laundering obligations.
- New Zealand and multinational clients on the impact of human rights obligations on their businesses and represented clients in complaints/disputes processes on such issues.
- Defending judicial review proceedings alleging breaches of responsible investment legislation and policies arising from investments linked to a disputed territory.
- New Zealand companies on their obligations under international sanctions.
- Providing training to international companies on policies and procedures to prevent bribery and corruption.
- Conducting internal investigations into alleged breaches of the (US) Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
- Dealing with regulatory intervention during corporate transactions.
- Undertaking due diligence on transactions involving emerging and high-risk markets and target entities.
- Designing and reviewing governance systems for listed and unlisted entities.
- Conducting and advising on incident reviews and investigations.
- We also assist organisations to ensure that employees’ and directors’ conflicts of interest are identified and managed.