Corinne Nierzwicki
Production Editor
Loyola University Chicago School of Law, JD 2018
The Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics recently hosted the 15th Compliance & Ethics Institute (CEI) in Chicago, Illinois. Several Loyola faculty members and students, including myself, attended CEI. I had an excellent experience at CEI networking with attendees and learning from the breakout sessions.
CEI Generally
CEI is an annual compliance conference for networking and compliance education in all industries. CEI is attended by hundreds of compliance and ethics professionals including audit managers, consultants, human resource managers, lawyers, corporate executives, government personnel, and others. Attendees of CEI have the opportunity to attend breakout sessions led by compliance and ethics experts on many topics in compliance and ethics and to network throughout CEI.
Loyola University Chicago School of Law at CEI
The Loyola University Chicago School of Law was well-represented by students and faculty affiliated with the Journal of Regulatory Compliance, the Center for Regulatory Compliance Studies, the Beazley Institute for Health Law and Policy, the Center for Business Law, and the Center for Online Programs. Loyola faculty attendees included Professor Ryan Meade, Editor-in-Chief; Professor Lindsay Dunbar, Deputy Editor; Professor Janis Anfossi; Professor Kim Brandt; Professor Megan Bess; Professor Eric Hinton; and Professor Art Weiss. Loyola student attendees included Logan Parker, Privacy Editor; Gilbert Carrillo, Executive Editor; Kaitlin Lavin, Executive Editor; Shannon Bailey; Michael Robinson; Deneen Sanders; Andrew Swigart; Giovanni Urena-Merkel; and myself.
My Personal Experience at CEI
As a student interested in regulatory compliance, I found CEI to be incredibly valuable. Being a 2L, I am beginning my exploration into compliance and ethics. I learned much from the speakers with their practical insight into problems facing compliance. It was a great opportunity to further my knowledge of compliance and ethics. I am appreciative that I was able to attend CEI with my fellow Loyola Ramblers.
What I enjoyed the most from CEI was how amiable and approachable the attendees were. Often networking opportunities are intimidating for a law student when speaking with seasoned attorneys and professionals. Attendees at CEI were very welcoming and receptive to me as someone willing to learn. For example, some engaging attendees approached Kaitlin Lavin and myself at the Sunday Reception, asking us many questions about our education experience at Loyola University Chicago School of Law as well as our career aspirations. The kindness and thoughtfulness of the attendees will stand out to me among the opportunities and events of my law school career.
In my opinion, the most interesting event of CEI was the break-out session entitled “The Legal Risks of Compliance & Ethics Programs” led by Joseph E. Murphy, Senior Advisor, Compliance Strategists. The presentation demonstrated the uncertainty that continues to pervade compliance and ethics programs. This concern of compliance and ethics professionals is deservedly so. Murphy made it clear from the start of his presentation that the session was to highlight what legal risks that a compliance program endures once there is such a program in place in a business. This appears to be a catch-22: a business has to create and maintain a compliance program to comply with law only to be exposed to legal risks. Murphy first surveyed the packed conference room to see if any of the break-out attendees were attorneys, and almost everyone in the room raised their hands. This really struck me, as dozens of seasoned professionals in compliance with Juris Doctors were compelled to attend a discussion on legal risks of compliance and ethics programs. Murphy spent over two hours going through law and enforcements affecting compliance programs. For the final 45 minutes, we broke into small groups where attendees shared experiences of legal risks of compliance and ethics program. During this part of the session, the gentleman near me expressed that he generally was aware of everything covered in the program, but he still felt uneasy about the state of legal risks affecting his employer and its compliance program. The state of the law affecting compliance and ethics programs clearly is unforeseeable and capricious for compliance and ethics professionals.
Next Year’s CEI
The 16th annual Compliance & Ethics Institute will be held from October 15th to October 18th in 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada at Caesars Palace. Hope to see you there!