Compliance & Lawyers
A legal professional is responsible for conducting legal proceedings and providing advice on matters of the law and the creation of legal relationships. The law is mandated and supported by the Government and the Courts and has a defined context which is considered to be a social responsibility. Lawyers are officers of the court and therefore have a primary obligation to the courts that is over and above that owed to their employer.
Compliance is about applying the law in a commercial context. It is the implementation process and is less about "black letter law" than the application of legal policy. Compliance professionals are obliged to assess the risks of breaches of the law and ensure that the Board and Senior Management are aware of these risks. While compliance activity covers regulatory and legal issues, it can also be applied to non-binding obligations that are important to an organisation as well as internal policies
Lawyers assist in identifying and providing the legal interpretation of the law, the compliance professionals may also then apply this interpretation into a commercial context and monitor for breaches and, where a breach arises, the lawyers advise on the seriousness of the breach, its ramification and deals with any resulting legal proceedings.
Only lawyers may claim professional privilege and then only in specific circumstances.
