Karen Kelly and Jacob Paikin wrote a piece for The Champion, a publication of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), titled “Compliance Programs, Declinations, and the DOJ’s New Corporate Enforcement Policy,” discussing when corporations should consider voluntary disclosures to federal prosecutors under the Justice Department’s March 2026 Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Disclosure policy.
In the article, she explains the new policy and highlights what corporate counsel needs to consider when deciding how to handle internal misconduct and potential criminal liability.
As Karen explains:
The March 2026 CEP provides a DOJ-wide framework governing how prosecutors and AUSAs evaluate voluntary self-disclosure, cooperation, remediation, and corporate recidivism in criminal matters. …
The March 2026 CEP generates a template applicable across DOJ components and districts that directs prosecutors in the analysis of the facts and circumstances of each case. The baselines set out in the March 2026 CEP provide some certainty and promote uniformity and fairness while still leaving key outcome determinations to prosecutorial discretion.
The article includes considerations and rules for self-reporting, disciplined internal investigations, benchmarks of specific and measurable cooperation, and the benefits of early decision-making.
Of note, “Reporting timelines are particularly crucial in light of the Corporate Whistleblowers Awards Pilot Program, which created a 120-day timeline for companies to self-report misconduct after learning of an internal whistleblower report to preserve eligibility for declination of prosecution.”
Karen recommends that corporations put in place policies and procedures for handling reports of internal misconduct to be able to “act quickly, preserve declination eligibility in whistleblower scenarios, and assemble a comprehensive cooperation and remediation record that mirrors the benchmarks set out in the [DOJ] policy’s definition section. The time to prepare for disclosure is now.”
The full article can be found in the September/October issue of The Champion here.
About Karen
The former head of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, Karen joined Kostelanetz after more than 30 years of trial practice, including prosecuting tax and white-collar crime. Her practice focuses on defending clients in government investigations, including in criminal tax and white-collar matters.
About Jacob
Jacob is an alumnus of Kostelanetz’s Pre-Law Paralegal Program. He is currently a J.D. candidate at Harvard Law School.
