Four former executives of a California company have moved to throw out a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case against them — and are seeking records from their former employer’s lawyers at Steptoe & Johnson in an effort to establish that the firm collaborated with federal prosecutors.

A lively panel discussion this week on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which included former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, offered insights into anticipated FCPA guidance from the Justice Department. There was a general consensus that much of the pressure for clarification was coming from outside the United States.

When companies take concrete steps to head off corruption, should they get credit for it if a bribery violation occurs? In the ’80s lawmakers discussed adding a compliance defense to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. But now, former federal prosecutors, GCs and professors are saying companies need better incentives.

Available: February 2012 The University of Chicago Law School held its 64th Annual Federal Tax Conference at the business school’s Gleacher Center on a memorable date: 11/11/11. Published exclusively each year in the special March Issue of Taxes—The Tax Magazine are the papers presented at this prestigious conference

Despite high-profile trial fiascoes and accusations of prosecutorial misconduct, Charles Duross, who supervises Foreign Corrupt Practices Act prosecutions for the Justice Department, defended his prosecutors as hardworking and above reproach at an ABA white-collar crime conference in Florida.