Career Paths in International Corporate Legal Practice

Career paths in internaL Corporate LegaL praCtiCe

When asked what qualities they most value in attorneys interested in pursuing similar career paths, compliance professionals and Symposium authors recounted their own career paths. The following ten tips represent a portion of frequent answers gleaned from that discussion.

1. Hustle.

“The real key is you have to hustle. There are so many great opportunities out there. Grab a cup of coffee, try for that scholarship, or even look into a policy that no one wants to touch. That will really pay off” (Steven Gyeszly).

Steven Gyeszly is Chief Compliance Counsel for Marathon Oil, an independent exploration and production company operating on four continents. In this role, he oversees the company’s corporate compliance and ethics organization. His office partners with operations and other corporate functions to lead the development, implementation, maintenance, and enhancement of a pragmatic corporate compliance program. Prior to joining Marathon Oil, Mr. Gyeszly was the Director of the Office of Global Compliance for a multi-national energy services company and an Associate in the International Litigation and Arbitration section at a global law firm. He also serves on the Board of Directors at Birkman International. Mr. Gyeszly holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Texas A&M University. His professional certifications include Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM), Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US), and Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional.

“Any volunteering we can do to get training, to help review somebody else’s policy, or, frankly, to do something else that somebody else doesn’t want to do—that goes a long way in the eyes of someone who has to delegate a compliance task” (Ryan Rabalais).

Ryan Rabalais is the Ethics & Compliance at Bechtel Oil, Gas, & Chemicals and is the former the Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer of Rowan Companies. In this capacity, he is responsible for the company’s Compliance Program— principally dealing with anti-corruption efforts, internal investigations, and ensuring sound international business practices. Mr. Rabalais has spent his career working as a lawyer in the oil field for publicly traded companies with international operations, primarily in legal compliance and operation support roles. Before coming to Rowan Companies, he served as Chief Compliance Officer of Paragon Offshore, prior to which he worked for Noble Drilling, BHP Billiton, and Baker Hughes. As a lawyer, Mr. Rabalais has primarily worked in Houston, Texas, in addition to holding positions in Caracas, Venezuela, and Perth, Australia. After serving for four years in the U.S. Marine Corps, Mr. Rabalais earned a bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University, and a law degree from the University of Houston.

2. Be willing to constantly evolve, learn, and adjust.

“Some of the skills that I think are important for a privacy attorney? I think you have to be willing to constantly learn and adjust to the changing laws, which may happen every day, the changes in technology, the change in data uses, etc. You have to be willing to kind of step out of your comfort zone to do this kind of work. You’re not going to see much of the same kinds of things, so having some basic knowledge about technology is helpful. If not, don’t be afraid to just sort of step in and learn. Virtually every question having to do with privacy really comes down to what you are doing with data. I think those two big things can help you have a leg up, or at least to do a good job” (Wendell Bartnick).

Wendell Bartnick is an associate in Reed Smith’s IP, Tech & Data Group. He has a computer science background and extensive experience advising on privacy, data protection, technology, and e-commerce matters. Mr. Bartnick provides advice to public and private clients in various industries on regulatory compliance, technology-related transactions, and data breach response efforts. Mr. Bartnick earned his J.D. at George Mason University in 2008, graduating magna cum laude.

“I don’t have a background in data privacy. I got a call from a recruiter and it sounded really interesting to work for an international technology company, to learn different things, learn the business, which I think being at a law firm you see a lot of snippets. However, you don’t really see what happens after that. It’s a little different from the work done at SCI, as we’re not so concerned about state data privacy laws in terms of our contract negotiations. We have a lot of focus on international laws because we have customers in South America, Europe, and Asia, and so it keeps you constantly thinking and that’s what I really enjoyed about it. It’s a learning process. It’s constant learning and you cannot have an ego. There’s a lot of things that you’re not going to know, both of the technical side and the legal side, and so you learn when to ask questions and how not to fear asking those questions” (Mary Isensee).

Mary Isensee is Technology Counsel at PROS, Inc., a cloud provider of AI-powered software solutions that optimize selling in the digital economy by enabling companies to price, configure, and sell their products and services in an omnichannel environment. There she provides support to the corporate and commercial teams. Prior to PROS, Ms. Isensee was a transactional associate at several Am Law 100 firms. She is a graduate of the University of Houston Law Center and the University of Texas at Austin.

“Be comfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity in the law—that you are not going to know all of the answers. Having a sense of exercising legal judgment. Be able to collaborate well. That’s very helpful. I work very closely with many departments across the company where any sort of data is either taken in or shared with a third party. I work particularly with the IT department, government affairs, and corporate communications. It takes a team player, as you have to build trust with the folks. Also, having some sort of technological expertise or background is helpful. I don’t have that background, but I ask a lot of questions and that goes a long way in building trust with the technology folks at the company. I also stay up to date on new technologies. That’s important” (Alexandra Chughtai-Harvey).

Alexandra Chughtai-Harvey is Corporate Counsel at Service Corporation International (SCI), the largest provider of funeral and cremation products and services in North America. Ms. Chughtai-Harvey handles data privacy and mergers and acquisitions for SCI and advises on all aspects of the company’s data privacy program. She also serves as a legal advisor to SCI’s Cybersecurity Executive Steering Committee and the Cybersecurity Incident Response Team. Ms. Chughtai-Harvey graduated cum laude from the University of Miami School of Law and holds a bachelor’s degree in English from SUNY Buffalo. Prior to law practice, Ms. Chughtai-Harvey worked as a journalist and earned a master’s degree in Journalism from New York University.

3. Be collaborative.

“If I am building a future team of investigative lawyers, I want someone who is tech savvy, who can collaborate, and who has relationship building skills for dealing with accountants or certified fraud examiners, or someone who is a Human Resources person, who can break down the psychology and the emotional intelligence aspect of employees. That is my all-star team” (Thuy Tran).

Thuy Tran previously worked as the Regional Integrity Officer-USA for SNC-Lavalin, a global, fully-integrated professional services and project management company, and major player in infrastructure ownership with 50,000 employees worldwide. In her former role, she supported the senior leadership team across the company’s five sectors, identifying risks and executing the company’s world class Integrity Program. Ms. Tran gained her anti-bribery and corruption experience in the oil industry in Houston, the Netherlands, and Hungary, including serving as a subject matter expert on a pro bono basis for Transparency International in Budapest. Upon her return to the United States, she worked in Washington, D.C., where she managed global programs and partnerships for Trace International. Ms. Tran now works at Weatherford Int'l as Ethics Compliance Counsel.

“Two pieces of advice—one, always be on the lookout for new opportunities. They pop up in totally unexpected places. You will get all of your jobs through having a cup of coffee with someone. I’ve got all of my jobs through having coffee with someone. Two—never hesitate to reach out and ask someone to pick their brain, or to say hey, this is what I am thinking, do you have any ideas? Everybody I’ve ever asked has said yes, including people I thought were way too important to talk to me. That’s what I would suggest” (David Mortlock).

David Mortlock is chair of the Willkie Farr & Gallagher Global Trade and Investment Practice group in Washington, D.C. He advises clients on international trade and government regulation of cross-border transactions, particularly the intersection of economic regulation and national security. Mr. Mortlock formerly served as Director for International Economic Affairs at the White

House National Security Council, in which capacity he advised President Obama and his National Security Advisor on sanctions, corruption, and other international finance and trade issues. Mr. Mortlock also worked at the U.S. Department of State as Deputy Coordinator for Sanctions Policy; Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment; and Attorney-Advisor of Sanctions and Terror Finance. Mr. Mortlock received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, magna cum laude, in 2014 and his undergraduate degree from Cornell University in 2001.

“With litigation, you’re used to talking on your feet. You have a lot of training, and you’re used to interacting with a lot of people. Compliance definitely allows you to connect with people, provides the foundation for building people skills, and positions you to speak as a leader” (Margaret Mousoudakis).

Margaret Mousoudakis is Assistant Compliance Officer for LyondellBasell, one of the world’s largest olefins, polyolefins, chemicals, and refining companies. She served in Brazil in April 2010 assisting the company and establishing a compliance department which included implementing a new code of conduct, new companywide policies and procedures including an anticorruption policy, gifts, entertainment, and travel policy, and due diligence procedures for third parties. Previously, Ms. Mousoudakis was a Senior Attorney for Marathon Oil Company, where her practice included providing Foreign Corrupt Practices Actrelated legal support to all Marathon subsidiaries. Ms. Mousoudakis received her bachelor’s degree in History and Spanish from Washington and Lee University in 1996, graduating cum laude. She earned her law degree from South Texas College of Law Houston in 1999, where she served as assistant Managing Editor of the South Texas Law Review.

4. Relationships will propel your career–foster them.

“How I got into compliance, one of my jobs in the past—I was a special assistant U.S. attorney who helped investigate for the FBI. At one point, they were assembling a team to work on a very significant investigation. They pulled me in because I had worked on the federal investigation. I ended up working on a white collar crime investigation, and that steered my path to compliance. The first in-house role I had was with a company in St. Louis where I managed litigation and compliance. The next real full-time compliance role I had was working for Jay. I remember when I interviewed with Jay, I was about to get on my flight back to St. Louis, and I had the guts to turn to Jay and tell him ‘I am not an FCPA expert.’ I still remember that conversation. He was only looking for a smart, intelligent, hard-working guy, and the rest, he would teach me.” (John Sardar).

John Sardar is the Chief Compliance Officer for Noble Energy, Inc., a publicly traded company and independent energy leader, engaged in worldwide oil and gas exploration and production. In his current role, Mr. Sardar oversees all aspects of Noble Energy’s ethics and compliance program globally, and is responsible for implementation and management of the company’s ethics and compliance policies, procedures, and guidelines. Prior to joining Noble Energy, he was Director, Ethics and Legal Compliance for Baker Hughes Inc. Mr. Sardar also worked as Deputy Compliance Officer and Council-Litigation with St. Louisbased Charter Communications Inc. His governmental experience includes service as a Special Assistant United States Attorney from 1999 to 2000 with the office of the Special Counsel John C. Danforth. Mr. Sardar earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics from California State University at Long Beach, and a law degree from St. Louis University, and is a member of the Missouri Bar. “I would have never necessarily predicted that I would get a call from the general counsel that was a good friend who said, “let’s go to dinner” and asked me to come to Baker-Hughes and play a role. I had a lot of confidence in him and the senior management team and the board. I would tell anybody going into that type of opportunity to only do it if you have a feeling of comfort. You can’t succeed if you don’t have the support around you. I felt that support. Every time you make a move like that, it has a risk in it, it has as a reward. You never know until you do it whether it’s going to pan out. But it turned out to be a great thing” (Jay Martin).

Jay Martin has retired from Baker Hughes as its Chief Compliance Officer and is now Senior Counsel with the law firm Wilkie, Farr & Gallagher in Washington, D.C. Prior to these roles, Mr. Martin was a shareholder at Winstead Sechrest & Minick P.C., a partner at Phelps Dunbar and Andrews & Kurth, and the Assistant General Counsel of Mobile Oil Corporation’s Worldwide Exploration and Production Division in Fairfax, Virginia. Mr. Martin has also served as General Counsel of Mobil Natural Gas, Inc. in Houston, Texas. Mr. Martin holds J.D., M.P.A., and B.B.A. degrees from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

“You have to be selfish. No one is going to navigate your career for you—eighteen months at a law firm wanting bigger cases with bigger deals only to go to another law firm wanting even bigger cases and even bigger deals, and then to a multinational law firm where you start to get the phone calls from the headhunters. Take those calls okay. It does not matter who they are calling on behalf of, that is a relationship in the making” (Natalia Shehadeh).

Natalia Shehadeh is Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer for TechnipFMC PLC, a London-based global leader in subsea, onshore/offshore, and surface projects in the oil and natural gas industries. Prior to joining TechnipFMC in 2018, Ms. Shehadeh was the Chief Assurance Officer and, formerly, Chief Compliance Officer, interim General Counsel and chair of Diversity and Inclusion at Weatherford International PLC, a global oil field services company. As Chief Compliance Officer for Technip FMC, Ms. Shehadeh leads a global team of compliance professionals responsible for a broad array of ethics and compliance topics including trade, anti-corruption, and anti-trust compliance. Previously, Ms. Shehadeh served as Senior Trade Compliance Counsel at Shell Oil Company and was Of Counsel with the law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP. Ms. Shehadeh earned degrees at the University of Houston and South Texas College of Law Houston in 1999. Ms. Shehadeh is originally from Madrid, Spain and is presently based in Houston, Texas.

5. Understand the business.

“At the end of the day, a lawyer must be a business facilitator” (Courtney V. Flores).

Courtney V. Flores is Legal Counsel for International Trade Compliance at Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE). At BGHE she advises the business on anti-boycott compliance and implements the annual compliance questionnaire. Prior to joining BHGE’s International Trade Compliance group, Ms. Flores served as Legal Compliance Training Coordinator, managing BHGE’s annual legal compliance training. Ms. Flores earned her undergraduate degree from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, and earned her J.D. from South Texas College of Law in Houston, Texas.

“The job is never done, and is ever changing. You’re watching out for what laws are coming next. You have to be a proactive business partner, and that is true in many areas of the law. You also have to build a relationship with the business so that they are proactive and coming to you before they’re entering into a new region or new territories, understanding that you’re not going to slow them down but work with them in parallel—that you’re going to put the right protections in place for the company. Come to an understanding of the business objectives, build the partnerships, either with your information security officer, with the different parts of the business, or with the different compliance leads in the business. Don’t be afraid to admit when you don’t have the subject-matter expertise in a new area where the law is changing, but letting the business know that you’re going to learn it, that you’re going to get up to speed at the rate of business, and that you are going to get the right partners, to put the right connections in place” (Shenna Bradshaw).

Shenna Bradshaw currently serves as Senior Legal Counsel at Motiva Enterprises LLC, supporting compliance, information technology, supply chain management, and refining capital projects. Prior to Motiva, Ms. Bradshaw worked at Andeavor (formerly Tesoro Corporation) supporting the supply chain management function and managing commercial, marketing, and refining litigation. Ms. Bradshaw received a B.A. from Saint Mary’s College and J.D. from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2004. After law school, Ms. Bradshaw served as a Captain in the U.S. Army Reserves, 8th Legal Support Organization. Ms. Bradshaw worked in private practice at Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, where she practiced in the construction group, focusing on contracting and litigation. Ms. Bradshaw then moved in house to Aegion Corporation for nine years, serving her final role at Aegion as General Counsel and Vice President of Human Resources over the energy services platform.

6. Backbone.

“This may apply more to compliance professionals in general—many of the conversations are going to be difficult conversations. Setting special investigators aside, generally speaking compliance professionals are trying to help somebody get to ‘yes’ in a way that is ethical and does not cross any lines. Lawyers do not want to be pushovers. They want to help, but they do not want to be steamrolled. Lawyers must have the backbone to stand up for their convictions when they know something is not right and to say that. KPMG1 has a pamphlet on revamping investigations that lists some of the key skills, one of which is the ability to investigate root causes. Those are things that professionals are looking at now— setting up their systems to track root causes, to understand what is happening in a given case, hoping to get to the bottom of it, and,

1. https://advisory.kpmg.us/content/dam/ advisory/en/pdfs/revamping-investigations. pdf.

ultimately, to fix the issue” (Michael Miner).

Michael Miner currently serves as Associate General Counsel for Investigations at Weatherford Int'l, where he leads the global investigations team, reporting to the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer. Mr. Miner has previously held a number of roles at Weatherford, including Regional Compliance Counseling and Managing Counsel for Investigations. Prior to joining Weatherford, Mr. Miner was in private practice for over fifteen years, most recently as Partner at Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP in Washington, D.C. At Drinker Biddle & Reath, his practice focused primarily on white collar criminal defense, corporate and governmental investigations, and commercial litigation. Mr. Miner received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and his law degree from The George Washington University Law School.

“Having a backbone is important. For example, roadside stops in certain countries are risky situations. Having boots on the ground and being in the same situations that the business guys are in, some of which are dangerous—these are the things that give the lawyer or investigator some ‘street cred.’ It is easy as a compliance professional to sit here in Houston in an ivory tower and say, ‘don’t give this bribe’ or ‘don’t give this facilitating payment’ or ‘you can’t do that.’ But when you are living and working in certain countries, when you are faced with a roadside stop where the officer is drunk and pointing a gun into the car—then you gain a different perspective.” (Ashley Coselli).

Ashley Coselli works as Senior Ethics & Compliance Counsel with Total American Services. Her practice specializes in corporate compliance including with respect to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), trade compliance, economic sanctions, data privacy and protection, and anti-trust compliance. She has extensive experience conducting due diligence of third-party representatives including the identification of anti-bribery, trade, sanctions, human rights, and ethical risks, in addition to conducting anticorruption audits and internal investigations. Ms. Coselli's expertise includes the development and implementation of ethics and compliance programs and processes, along with partnering with dedicated trade compliance teams. She earned her law degree from South Texas College of Law in addition to her B.B.A. in finance from Texas Tech University. Prior to attending law school, she worked as a tax consultant, specializing in state and local taxes.

“Serendipity led me to this career. We were coming up in the game, and it was probably happenstance. I was a litigator at Baker Botts here in the Houston office. Like many defense lawyers, I had an itch I wanted to scratch on the plaintiff side, to see what that was like. For about three years, I worked with the national plaintiff firm, Merlin Law Group, and that was an amazing experience for compliance. When litigating these cases, you are taking depositions of powerful people, which is a big part of compliance and internal investigations. Not everyone has that comfort level of being so bold with a CEO or billionaire. If you have that opportunity to experience that early on, it’s a one less hurdle that you have to deal with” (Sergio Leal).

Sergio Leal is the Head of Compliance at Ericsson and is the former Compliance Officer for Bilfinger North America. This past December, Bilfinger’s compliance program was certified by its appointed Monitor, marking a major milestone in the company’s compliance efforts with respect to its Extended Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the Department of Justice. Prior to Bilfinger, Mr. Leal served as Chief Compliance Officer of Layne Christensen Company. Mr. Leal began his career as a litigator with Baker Botts LLP. Mr. Leal graduated with Honors from The University of Texas at Austin and received his law degree from Columbia Law School. Mr. Leal commits his time to serving on the Board of Family Houston, a non-profit providing mental health services, family counseling, and financial coaching on a reduced or free basis to area residents.

7. Sound legal judgment.

“Qualities that make good lawyers in any field, but which are particularly helpful in this space: the ability to exercise good judgment and to think about issues in a deep way; analyze them and be able to give advice that’s not just giving legal jargon, but applied in the situation you’re giving advice on; giving options but also potentially a recommendation to your client; and then knowing the situation where you just have to tell your client no. There are a lot of solutions you can bring to the table, but there are some situations where you have to be willing to say no. As you’re looking at entering into this field, I think those are things to start thinking about as you’re taking law school courses” (Tim Brown).

Tim Brown is an accomplished legal counselor in the energy industry, with unique and diverse experience in litigation, international transactions, and both trade and anti-corruption compliance. Mr. Brown has held a variety of significant roles at Anadarko

Petroleum Corporation (Anadarko) for fourteen years. His current role at Anadarko is Managing Senior Counsel-International, in which he leads a team of lawyers responsible for all legal work with respect to exploration, development, and production activity, as well as all new international ventures in business development work. Mr. Brown earned his J.D. from Texas Tech University, cum laude, and his Bachelor of Arts, with honors, from Baylor University. Mr. Brown is a licensed customs broker and serves as an adjunct law professor teaching International Petroleum Transactions at South Texas College of Law–Houston.

8. Social self-awareness and cultural competency.

“The young lawyer should be aware enough to check in and make sure that, culturally, he or she is not going to be stepping on someone’s toes. Language ability is another big skill to have as well. Having emotional intelligence, be able to read a situation, to read a person, to know what needs to be done in order to get the information, have cultural sensitivity, and know that not everything works abroad like it does here in the U.S., in fact nothing works like it does here in the U.S., ever” (Marla Moore).

Marla Moore has over twenty-four years of employment law experience, with nearly seventeen years spent as an inhouse labor and employment lawyer managing a host of issues for a major multi-national oil and gas company. By leveraging her significant experience in the corporate world, she now runs her own successful practice focusing primarily on workplace training and investigations. Her clients include companies, nonprofits, and quasi-governmental institutions. She is a seasoned investigator, having conducted numerous and often complicated internal investigations for her clients over the years. Ms. Moore graduated magna cum laude from Southwestern University and received her J.D. from the University of Texas. She is a member of the Employment Law Section of both the Texas State Bar and the Houston Bar Association and a past-President and Treasurer of the American Petroleum Labor Lawyers Association.

9. “Good” experience includes non-traditional experience.

“Practitioners should be ready to be bold but practical. Don’t be scared to take risks with nontraditional roles that are quasi-legal in nature. This enables a starting attorney to learn the business side of things while getting started in their legal career. These quasi-legal positions or non-traditional positions may be good stepping stones for new lawyers. However, landing and succeeding in these roles may take a little bit of humble pie. After graduating from law school, I did not realize how much non-legal work is roped into working in-house. Lend a hand and make relationships outside of the legal team. After working within the business, you have an opportunity to see why things go wrong and how to give business-minded legal support. Hopefully, taking on these non-traditional roles will enable you to become a partner with the business and help you recognize the legal risks for that business” (Elanor Benmenashe).

Elanor Benmenashe is a Senior Human Resources and Business Partner with SNCLavlin in the Oil & Gas Sector, with about 20,000 employees. Her work focuses on managing global labor and employment investigations. Prior to joining SNC-Lavalin, Ms. Benmenashe served as in-house legal counsel for companies in the upstream and midstream markets. Notably, in this role she developed, implemented, and advised on a compliance framework for the DoddFrank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protections Act of 2010.

“I took time between my undergrad and law school and worked as a logistics provider. The intent there was they had international in their name and I thought that I would get to travel. I decided to go to law school at night and worked full time. Then I got married, had a kid, and bought a house. I don’t know how I did it. Looking back, it makes me tired. I did a short detour as a medical malpractice lawyer before deciding that I wanted to get back in the international space and use what I learned for seven years working as a logistics provider. My recommendation to you is to get law firm experience, because, if you’re going to be in-house, it’s important to understand how outside council works. It’s a great training ground. If you’re not able to do that, you still have to understand your supply chain. I think that’s critical. Really understand that if you have the opportunity to work in house, meet your supply chain folks, and understand how the business works. These are keys that I really look for” (Ellen C. Smith).

Ellen C. Smith serves as Executive Counsel-International Trade Compliance, at Baker Hughes, a GE Company, where she leads a global team of trade compliance professionals responsible for daily import, export, trade sanctions, and boycott compliance; providing advice and training; and program development, implementation and administration. Ms. Smith has held various trade compliance roles in the oil and gas industry for almost ten years.

“I did not go straight from my undergrad to law school. I had a gap of six years working out of two different trade quarters. The reason why I got in that space, was actually because of an undergraduate marketing class. I was trying to figure out what I was going to do after I realized that accounting was not in my future. We had a guest speaker, another professor, who came in to talk about logistics, and I thought, well I am not good at math, so it is not going to work out for me. But the professor was a dynamic speaker and talked about all the things that need to happen behind-the-scenes. It’s a part of marketing, but you’re not out there promoting. It’s not advertising, it’s not sales, but everything that we’ve talked about that have to go perfectly. To go from point A, whether that’s in China or elsewhere, to point B, here in the United States, to that item being on the shelf. That appealed to me. I started, six years later got my broker’s license, and at that point transitioned to a boutique law firm specializing in international trade, before going to law school at nights. Then I got a position in-house in Wisconsin, and finally came down to Shell in 2007. I’ve bounced back and forth between the import side and export side, but having that supply chain background and knowing how to roll up your sleeves, actually moving freight, importing and exporting are things that I still rely upon today. It’s been very helpful for me. What I look for is good experience. If you came straight from undergrad into law school, great. But in case you haven’t, don’t feel that you are at a disadvantage. If you have comparable experience that may be relevant, then that is an advantage” (Mel Chavez).

Mel Chavez serves as Trade Compliance Officer at Shell Oil Company. Mr. Chavez has twenty-five years of various international trade compliance experience. He started his career working in the customs broker and freight forwarder community managing day-to-day supply chain on behalf of various clients. After passing the Customs Broker exam in 2000, he transitioned into a compliance role and acted as a customs broker for a boutique law firm specializing in international trade and customs matters. Upon finishing law school in 2005, Mr. Chavez moved to an in-house role and eventually joined Shell Company in 2007. In addition to a J.D., Mr. Chavez also holds a Tax L.L.M.

10. The Value of Judicial Clerkships.

“When I was in law school, I had no idea that the FCPA existed. I clerked on the Fifth Circuit, and I’m going to date myself, but my tenure on the court was when the Enron appeals were coming through. I worked on a lot on both the individual and the Enron criminal work, and I found it absolutely fascinating. We were doing the sentencing calculations and looking at things like credibility and used the same factors we would be using if it was someone who committed a rape or murder. I appreciated how—from the political perspective—the courts had come to deal with white collar crime. If you have the opportunity to clerk, take it. It will be the best job you ever have, so take it. You will learn more and have more doors open to you particularly if you have a good judge. I still go by my judge’s house for a glass of wine and let him tell me everything that I need to do in the next year” (Joy Dowdle).

Joy Dowdle is a partner in the litigation department at Paul Hastings LLP, based out of the firm’s Houston office. Specifically, Ms. Dowdle has experience with global anti-corruption compliance and regularly represents clients across industries before global enforcement authorities. She also provides counsel in the design, enhancement, and implementation of compliance programs, as well as the execution of anti-corruption transactional due diligence and integration. Ms. Dowdle has conducted investigations as well as corporate independent and selfmonitorships in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Additionally, Ms. Dowdle represents clients in complex commercial and securities litigation arising from governmental investigations.

“Like a lot of people in compliance, I wanted to be a general litigator. After law school, I had the opportunity to clerk for a federal judge on the Fifth Circuit. I would encourage all students to consider clerking. There are some judges who are excellent mentors, and either way, you have an inside view of how the judicial system really works” (David Searle).

David Searle is Vice President, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer at Walmart Inc. He is the former Chief Compliance Officer, Associate General Counsel, and Assistant Corporate Secretary of Bristow Group. He is responsible for overseeing legal compliance in all the jurisdictions in which Bristow Group operates, dealing with issues related to export controls, anticorruption, sanctions, and fair competition. He previously served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Houston, where he prosecuted corporate international money laundering cases. He began his career in commercial litigation as an appellate lawyer with Baker Botts LLP, after serving as a law clerk to the Honorable Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Mr. Searle received his law degree from Duke University and holds an undergraduate degree in economics from Stanford University.

Currents 24.1 2020