In the last of my series of posts about trends for 2012, I found two articles of particular interest. Corporate Social Responsibility In an article by Tim Mohin, director of corporate social responsibility at Advanced Micro Devices, published in Forbes, Mohin describes ten key developments to watch in 2012 in corporate social responsibility.  Global pressures in corporate social responsibility echo similar trends in corporate governance and ethics and compliance. Ethics and Compliance In an article by Steve Priest with Santiago Zorzopulos Reich in Corporate Compliance Insights, Priest and Reich outline their predictions for 2012 ethics and compliance trends.  The article highlights the global pressures building in ethics and compliance, particularly in areas such as bribery, insider trading, and antitrust.  They also discuss how bad governance and ethics may converge, citing the Olympus scandal.  They also warn government contractors to pay particular attention to compliance and ethics, as the potential penalty of debarment from doing business with the government can lead companies to agree to significant fines and penalties, such as those recently paid by large pharmaceutical firms. The article, in two parts, may be accessed at: http://www.corporatecomplianceinsights.com/ethics-compliance-forecast-for-2012-part-1/ http://www.corporatecomplianceinsights.com/ethics-compliance-forecast-for-2012-part-2/ For more information about compliance related enforcement activities, see: D&O Diary http://www.dandodiary.com/2012/01/articles/foreign-corrupt-practices-act/interesting-times-a-2011-yearend-fcpa-update/ Gibson Dunn’s 2011 FCPA Update:  http://gibsondunn.com/publications/Pages/2011YearEndFCPAUpdate.aspx Wilmer Hale’s Anti-Corruption Enforcement Developments: 2011 Review and 2012 Preview: http://www.wilmerhale.com/files/Publication/7399b366-ef46-4d9f-b147-3e0349ebb307/Presentation/PublicationAttachment/fda0568a-f996-48ff-9f98-570cb6f963b3/Anti-Corruption%20Enforcement%20Developments_2011%20Year-in-Review%20and%202012%20Preview.pdf [caption id="attachment_2793" align="alignleft" width="98"] Barbara Blarckford, Senior Advisor, The Conference Board Governance Center[/caption] Barbara Blackford is currently a Senior Advisor to The Conference Board Governance Center. Barbara recently retired from Superior Essex Inc., a Fortune 750 wire and cable manufacturer acquired by LS Corp, a leading South Korea exchange listed company and a member of the LS Group. Barbara has also served as General Counsel of AirGate PCS, a NASDAQ listed Sprint affiliate and Associate General Counsel of Monsanto Company. While at Monsanto, she was head of the Corporate Securities, Corporate Governance and Mergers & Acquisitions legal functions and oversaw more than $40 billion in M&A activity. In all of these roles, she was primarily responsible for providing legal support to the Board of Directors, securities compliance and executive compensation. Barbara served on the Board of Directors of the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals and is a frequent speaker on governance and securities laws. She served as the Reporter for The Conference Board Task Force on Executive Compensation.