News & what's on - Written by on Monday, September 5, 2011 0:28 - 0 Comments

Book Review: Lissack and Horlick on Bribery – The Bribery Act from both sides of the pond

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A very good book on the Bribery Act.

Written and edited by Richard Lissack QC and Fiona Horlick it is available to buy from Lexis Nexis Butterworths here for £200.

The book is a compendium of various contributors work all expertly reviewed by Richard and Fiona before it went into print.

The book starts with a brief look at the history and context of the new Act, goes through the old legislation which it replaces, before getting into the Act in detail and taking a look at related legislation.

Relevance of the US FCPA

As regular readers of thebriberyact.com will know, in the absence of any decided cases in the UK under the Bribery Act (though this may change soon…), we often take the approach of looking to the US for a steer on the likely development of the Bribery Act.

This book takes a similar approach.

The book has a chapter, penned by Fiona Horlick, entitled “When is a benefit a bribe” which takes a look at some US examples among others.

This seemingly obvious question is often overlooked.   In our view using US Foreign and Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) examples of bribery is sensible given they and US fines and penalties post Innospec (see Lord Justice Thomas judgement) are bound to inform opinion in the UK.

Later in the book the US theme is continued in a section entitled ‘The International Perspective: Lessons from US Authorities’ Enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act’.  This chapter is written by Kevin Abikoff, Edward JM Little and John F Wood of Hughes Hubbard & Reed.

Incidentally, Richard Lissack and Kevin Abikoff are both joint monitors for Innospec Inc. and Hughes Hubbard publishes an annual free Spring Alert which is a good read for those who’d like to get down into the weeds of the FCPA.

As you would expect Lissack and Horlick covers Adequate Procedures, Self Reporting, penalties and remedies (including a look at the use of UK money laundering legislation) as well as a brief overview of some of the other likely relevant areas of law relevant in the context of bribery – for example extradition and employment (labor) law.

The book is excellent for those wanting a solid grounding in the Bribery Act mixed with an understanding of where it came from and a practical US perspective.

Interested in the Bribery Act?  Lissack and Horlick on Bribery is recommended reading.

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