January 29, 2007

The so-called McNulty Memo on white-collar prosecution, issued last month by the U.S. Department of Justice, was initially hailed by many as a welcome retreat from the overreaching principles embodied in the earlier, much-criticized Thompson Memo. However, per a report by Pamela MacLean in the NLJ, the new policy is not actually as big a concession as all that, and leaves many of the critics of the Thompson Memo far from satisfied. "We're thrilled the Department of Justice has taken this step forward after two years of begging. But this proposal is no solution. It not only doesn't go far enough, it still misses the point. They still think DOJ gets to decide whether corporate counsel they are prosecuting have a right to counsel or not," says Susan Hackett of the Association of Corporate Counsel.