Your Comments (Even if Anonymous) Are Welcome

It is always gratifying to know that people out there are reading and finding your content worthwhile.

Recently, a reader e-mailed with an informative comment, but indicated that she was hesitant to post it on the blog because she works for a company and didn't want her comment associated with the company. I told her that I allow anonymous comments and she suggested that I announce this fact.

So here is the announcement - the FCPA Professor blog allows anonymous comments. To do so, at the end of a post, click on "comment," you will then see a "comment as" drop-down box where "anonymous" is one of the options.

Why do I allow anonymous comments?

Obviously, I would prefer signed comments, however, I understand the concerns of FCPA practitioners, in-house counsel, business leaders and others when posting to a blog. After all, our topic is the FCPA - some rather serious stuff.

As a practicing lawyer, I frequented certain blogs, often felt inclined to comment on issues, but never did for fear of my comments being attributed to my firm and the clients it represents. The FCPA bar is a small bar and relationships with enforcement officials often matter just as much (at least it seemed to me) as facts and the law. For in-house counsel, their client is the company that employs them, and, in this Internet age, it is not too difficult to match people's names to their employer.

Thus, to most effectively carry out the mission statement of this blog - "to foster a forum for critical analysis and discussion of the FCPA (and related topics) among FCPA practitioners, business and compliance professionals, scholars and students, and other interested persons" - I allow anonymous comments.

There are certainly enough FCPA related topics these days to get people talking, so please feel free to start talking (even if anonymously) on this blog.