At Least 19 Lawyers on List of 100 Most Influential in Business Ethics

A crusading prosecutor who has accused Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich of trying to sell the Senate seat held by Barack Obama is one of the more high-profile lawyers on a list of the 100 most influential people in business ethics. But his fame doesn't compare with that of Obama himself, who made the list for making ethics “a cornerstone of his administration.”

The list published by Ethisphere also includes some lesser-known business ethics heroes, including a handful of current and former in-house lawyers, several judges and two leaders of an ABA committee. Legal Blog Watch identified at least 19 lawyers on the list.

One of them is U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. “Fitzgerald has a reputation of being tough and not afraid to take on high-profile people,” Ethisphere says in something of an understatement.

In-house counsel on the list include:

• Kim Yong-chul, formerly of Samsung, who “blew the whistle on the company," alleging its participation in bribery.

• Former General Electric general counsel Ben Heineman, for writing a book, High Performance with High Integrity.

• PepsiCo general counsel Larry Thompson, “one of the most respected and admired general counsel in business today.”

• KPMG chief legal officer Sven Holmes, who “drove development and implementation of KPMG’s model ethics and compliance program.”

• Microsoft director of compliance Odell Guyton.

One of the ABA leaders on the list is Kathleen Hamann, chair of a committee on anti-corruption issues and compliance, for her efforts to deter corrupt practices.

The other is Nancy Boswell, president of Transparency International, an organization that focuses on the ethics of businesses and federal governments. Boswell was vice chair of the ABA anti-corruption committee.

The committee is part of the ABA Section of International Law.

Updated on Jan. 16 to note that Nancy Boswell was also an ABA leader.