Incorporating Lessons Learned and New Developments

• Pages: 39-46

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CHAPTER 5

INCORPORATING LESSONS LEARNED AND

NEW DEVELOPMENTS

All corporate counselors face significant challenges keeping their company antitrust

compliance program up-to-date in the face of time and budget constraints. Corporations and

human beings operate and live in the present. We respond to the demands of daily life both in

business and in our personal lives. How much time and how many resources are available to

think proactively and plan for future contingencies which may never occur? In contrast, what

percentage of legal department budgets are devoted to necessary but essentially reactive work

such as advising on this week’s operational problems and defending lawsuits? Spending time

and money to keep an antitrust compliance program up-to-date may not be a top priority for

companies, especially when legal department budgets are being pared back. After all, in-house

legal departments are viewed by many business executives as cost centers, not profit centers.

Yet, a current and relevant compliance program is essential to protect companies from

running afoul of antitrust law. It takes strong leadership and well-honed persuasive skills for in-

house lawyers to secure the internal resources needed to keep both the content and the

implementation of compliance programs up-to-date and active.

We will assume that you have won the budget battle and have obtained resources to make

this happen. The question is how do you accomplish this worthy goal?

A good way to start is by organizing three categories of information essential to assuring

your compliance program is up-to-date and effective: (i) lessons learned in your company and

industry; (ii) new business activities and trends in your company and industry; and (iii) new

developments in antitrust law in the jurisdictions where your company is doing business.

A. Incorporating Lessons Learned

1. Why Lessons Learned are Important

Reflecting on your own business should come first. After all, you have immediate access to

internal information, especially your company’s past experiences or lessons learned. A focus on

lessons learned is an essential discipline for quality managers, developers of international

product and service standards, government agencies, “knowledge management” advocates, and

all of us. The idea is to learn from your mistakes and not repeat them. Al Franken, the radio

host and now senator from Minnesota, has observed:

Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are:

precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way. Unless it’s a fatal mistake,

which, at least, others can learn from.1

1. ALFRANKEN,OH,THE THINGS IKNOW! (2002).