Canadian Lawyer InHouse

MARCH 2016 18 INHOUSE Pallett Valo LLP Proudly Announces New Advisor - Client Relations New Partners Nash will assist the firm's lawyers to better understand their clients' needs and expectations so that they can deliver a higher level of client service, as well as more effective business solutions. Nash Lakha Advisor - Client Relations 905.273.3022 Ext. 400 Andy Balaura Partner Employment & Labour 905.273.3022 Ext. 225 abalaura@pallettvalo.com Joe Conte Partner Business Law 905.273.3022 Ext. 217 jconte@pallettvalo.com Maria Ruberto Partner Construction 905.273.3022 Ext. 206 mruberto@pallettvalo.com Right-sized Thinking® international trade. "To Brazil's credit, the provisions in the Clean Company Act are probably the most strict I've seen around the world." He points to the fi rm line on liabil- ity. Unlike in other jurisdictions, in Brazil, a company is still liable even if it can prove that it took steps to prevent corruption. LOCAL PAIN, INTERNATIONAL GAIN Mariana Mota Prado is an associate dean of graduate studies at the University of Toron- to Faculty of Law and a Brazilian national who collaborates with other scholars on in- stitutional reform. She says the new law and regulations could work well alongside extra Brazilian anticorruption legislation. Con- sider the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and Canada's equivalent, the Corruption of Foreign Public Offi cials Act. Both pieces of legislation stipulate that if an offi cial work- ing for a Canadian or U.S. company abroad bribes a representative of that country, then a Canadian or U.S. court can prosecute and sentence the offi cial to jail time and fi nes. Coupled with Brazil's anticorruption steps, these laws could help reduce corruption across the board, Mota Prado says. But at the same time, corruption control measures could prove risky for Brazil's econo- my. As Mota Prado says, following the Petro- bras scandal, many Brazilian construction companies are prohibited from entering into government contracts. So, when the govern- ment wants to start construction projects, it has fewer Brazilian companies to call on. Now, if those companies reorganize and do away with corrupt practices, they'll like- ly be allowed to participate in government projects in the future. "That's the story for SNC Lavalin here in Canada," Mota Prado says. Until then, though, she says, "We're going to go through a downturn. It will take time for these businesses to learn to do things in a different way." The positives likely outweigh the nega- tives. "All the losses in the Brazilian econ- omy that were due to corruption would be recouped," Mota Prado says. "It's estimated that fi ve to 15 per cent of our GDP is con- sumed by corruption — meaning the Bra- zilian economy could be growing much faster if there were no corruption." Measuring the effects of corruption is tough. Many investors and regulators rely on Transparency International's annual Corrup- tion Perceptions Index, which tracks people's points of view on various nations' apparent As in many emerging economies, large fortunes were made very quickly, relationships were established that spilled over into areas they maybe shouldn't have and certain things went off the rails. MILOS BARUTCISKI, Bennett Jones LLP '' ''

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