Professor Michele DeStefano is known for thinking about things no one else is thinking of.
Often, that thinking leads to international collaborations concerning the intersection of law, business, and technology. For example, in 2010 when Miami Law Dean, Patricia White, approached her about a globalization conference, the former business executive turned lawyer responded with out-of-the-box ideas of fostering participant-created projects by connecting students, educators, and professionals, across continents.
“She has an unusual gift for thinking hard about different ways of collaboration,” is how Dean White puts it.
That idea of connecting students with professionals to work on tangible projects led to the creation of LawWithoutWalls (LWOW), an innovative approach to problem solving by harnessing the varied talents of people all across the world.
Now, after having founded and directed LWOW for over four years and having receiving numerous awards and accolades for the think-tank, the Harvard Law alumna has concocted another fresh idea that is serving to facilitate a global dialogue concerning the field of compliance and ethics.
The Compliance Elliance Journal, or CEJ for short, was co-created by DeStefano with Dr. Hendrik Schneider, professor and director at the University of Liepzig. Both DeStefano and Schneider share a mutual interest and scholarship in the area of compliance and ethics, and with that in mind the two set out with the goal of making a cross-cultural discussion on the subject available and easily accessible to practitioners, academics, and students alike.
“Globalization along with the vast increase in regulations have dramatically reshaped the market in which large corporations work and raised the importance of compliance and ethics,” explained DeStefano. “To that end, the need for a strong culture of ethics and compliance that runs throughout an organization has never been higher. CEJ enables compliance professionals from all over the world to share their stories and their learnings so that best practices can be co-developed.”
Together with Schneider, DeStefano co-curates the content published on CEJ, which focuses exclusively on compliance and ethics.
An open access e-journal, CEJ publishes short works of engaging authors writing about cutting-edge issues in compliance and ethics from around the world. Published twice per year in summer and winter, the journal is in its inaugural edition themed, “Global Corporations in a World of Local Market Specifics: How to Create a ‘Glocal’ Identity of Compliance.”
The Second Edition of CEJ, “Ambiguous Legal Issues in Internal Investigations & Audits” will be available February 2016. Submissions are currently being accepted through January 15, 2016. For more information, visit cej-online.com.
