White Collar Talks: Upcoming 2026 Global White Collar Institute

“White Collar Talks with Nina and Joe” episode features Lucian Dervan, discussing the upcoming 2026 Global White Collar Crime Institute, July 13-14, 2026, in Singapore. which will bring together senior practitioners, government officials, judges, and scholars to examine the evolving and increasingly complex landscape of international white collar crime. Hosts are Nina Marino and Joe Whitley.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Welcome to White Collar Talks with Nina Joe. I'm Nina Marito.

SPEAKER_01 0:10

I'm Joe Whitley.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

And we are delighted to have with us today on our podcast, Lucian Durvon. Lucian, welcome back.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Thank you, all to be here.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

It's so great to have you back with us. For those of you that have not had the um the pleasure of meeting Lucian, allow me to introduce him for a second. Lucian is a professor of law and the associate dean for academic affairs at Belmont University College of Law. Lucian is also the founding director of the Plea Bargaining Institute, which is the global hub for academics, policymakers, and practitioners. And Professor Javon, who I'm pleased to say is a good friend of Joe and mine, is also a recognized expert on domestic and international criminal law. And it is, in fact, international criminal law that brings Lucian to the podcast today, because he's here to discuss the upcoming global white collar institute, which just the little I know about it, Lucian, sounds off the charts amazing. Joe, I know you have a million questions. Why don't you jump on in?

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Lucian, uh, let me get underway in asking a question about location. I know this particular program has been in a lot of locations in Europe uh and South America, but is this this is a new spot for you, isn't it, uh in the in Asia?

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Well, way back in 2015, uh, we were in Shanghai and had just a great event there. And then you're right, we've spent uh most of the last decade jumping back and forth between Europe and South America. And most recently had a fabulous collaboration uh with the London Paris White Collar Institute in Geneva, which was sort of a collaborative undertaking. And now, yes, finally, you know, a little over 10 years later, uh, after that great event uh in Shanghai, we're heading to Singapore. And I'm really excited about Singapore. It's actually a place that I've not been. But when we started to talk with people and say, you know, we're we're gonna head back out to Asia and we really want to have a bigger presence there with our white-collar institutes, uh, people just kept saying Singapore. And I think that's partly because it's really become a hub for global conferences. And it turns out there's not a lot of white-collar activity there. So this is really just the perfect spot for us to be, not only because it'll introduce us to a new location, which will be Singapore, but because I think this is going to be one of those locations that becomes an amazing launching point for the ABA criminal justice section into the entire region of Asia.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

And uh if I might, uh Nina, just another question about composition of the program, the panelists. From what I can see, you have some really uh high-level representation coming out to the program that would be very meaningful for people attending. Could you talk about that a minute?

SPEAKER_00 3:28

Absolutely. I I'm particularly excited about this because you know, we talk about this being the global white-collar crime institute. We've prided ourselves on having lots of global representation. And I think this is an amazing example of that. We have uh 12 plus different countries represented uh amongst the speakers. So, yeah, it's in Singapore, and we have a very strong contingent from uh Singapore uh on our panels, but this is gonna be global. I mean, we've got people from all over the world coming in uh to help participate in what's gonna be a dialogue about international white-collar crime. So, you know, we've got people coming in from America, obviously, Canada, Europe, Australia. Uh, this is gonna be really, really exceptional. We've got India coming in. So uh again, I'm I'm excited about how diverse this global uh meeting is gonna be. With regard to individual speakers, we have just a huge uh, I think, collective uh of names coming in. I do think you know this is gonna be one of those things where it's a a discussion, a dialogue, a networking opportunity with leading practitioners in the world. So I'll just point out sort of a couple pieces of the of the program, and then I know we'll come back and maybe talk about uh the program a little bit more. Uh, but we are gonna kick off the the first morning um with some great welcome remarks, including from our our own chair, uh Melbourne Pearson, and the president of the Law Society of Singapore. We're very uh excited and honored to be partnering with them on this institute. As is our tradition, we're then gonna jump in uh to our morning keynote keynote, which is gonna be the Minister for Law and Second Minister for Home Affairs of Singapore, Edwin Tong. So this is you know, this is a huge get for us. So we're gonna get to hear from the chief law enforcement officer in the country who's gonna be talking about the things that they're working on in Singapore. And I think, you know, one of the things I'm excited to hear about from him is about all of the collaboration that's happening between enforcers regionally and globally. And that's why we tend to spill right from that keynote into our enforcers panel. And this enforcers panel I think is gonna be really great. Uh, we've got uh uh Ken Pallit, the former uh assistant attorney general for the US DOJ Criminal Division, is gonna be the moderator, and then we've got representatives from the Australian Federal Police, the Singapore Attorney General's Chambers, we've got the former head of the legal department for commercial affairs in Singapore, and we've got a representative from the Attorney General's office of the Republic of Indonesia. So just kind of kicking this off with some, I think, really interesting conversations from the enforcers themselves about what people can expect, what people can look for in this global enforcement environment. And then just to sort of stick with keynotes for a minute, I'll jump to day two and say that on day two, uh, we're really honored to have uh Justice Kevin Zervos, who's a justice of the Court of Appeals of Hong Kong, uh, who'll be flying down to be our day two keynote speaker. Uh, that again should be a really interesting conversation. We could hear the bench's perspective on international white-collar enforcement. And so again, just a couple of of you know big items on the agenda, but in addition to that, as we'll talk about later, lots of amazing panels, lots of amazing other speakers coming in.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

The um timing of the program, uh, Lucy, if you give us those dates and uh how people might uh register for the program.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

Yeah, so the dates for the 2026 Global White Collar Crime Institute in Singapore are July 13 and 14. So uh not too far from now. So now's the time to act to jump on uh and register for that. And as is always true, you can find the registration materials uh easily on the internet. Uh you just have to uh plug in American Bar Association, and then you put in WhiteCollar and Singapore, and it should pop right up. There it is, the very first thing that pops up for you, and you can register there on our events page. The events page has information about all the speakers, the agenda. Uh we have applied for continuing professional development uh credit, and we're just waiting for confirmation. But that looks great. So uh if you need that CPD credit and you're in Singapore or the region, this is the place to get that credit for yourselves. Uh and again, lots of information about our sponsors, getting membership in the criminal justice section, which we always recommend because that kind of plugs you into the amazing networks that we have, uh, but is not required to attend a conference, of course. And then right there on the front page, uh you can register to attend a conference and get all the materials that you need to be there with us uh for these this day and a half event.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

You know, I'm I'm asking too many questions and you're not asking any. So let me uh I'll yield back, but I I I'm so impressed, Lucian, with what you've accomplished along with a team of others, I'm sure. But uh if I have I want to be there this year, I wish I could. I will try my air make every effort to be there. But uh is this program going to be continuing on in the next year and the years after that and other locations?

SPEAKER_00 8:41

Yeah, so first let me just thank my planning committee because this has taken a lot of work. You know, one of the one of the exciting things, but also one of the challenging things about the global institute is we we have tended for the last, you know, what is it now, 15 or 16 years to show up in places that we have never been before. You know, it's always our first time in that location. We did that uh in Shanghai. We did that in Buenos Aires, uh, we did that in Sao Paulo and Prague and Geneva just most recently. Uh, and so we're really excited to be landing in Singapore for the very first time and couldn't do that uh without an amazing planning committee and without our partners, uh, which include, of course, our sponsors, many of whom are long-term sponsors and supporters of this work. Uh but here in Singapore, I want to particularly mention the Singapore Law Society, uh, who has really been able to plug us into the locale, uh, into their membership, and it has really been an incredible partner uh for us. Um what we're gonna be doing in the future, uh, you know, I think that Singapore is gonna be an amazing launching pad for us to have a much bigger presence in Asia. So are we staying? The answer is yes. Um, I think the plan is that, you know, if you look back over the last 17 years or 15 or years, however long it's been, since we first started the London Institute. And I did that sort of one-day internal investigations conference in Frankfurt in 2012. Uh, we've done a lot of work all over the world, but a lot of it has been in Europe. And I think you can see that because, you know, we have just such a strong membership from Europe and such a strong presence with regards to our conferences. And of course, the London-Paris uh Institute has become sort of this uh significant event on an annual basis that the European community participates in. And I think that we can become that in in Asia as well. We just haven't, you know, had the time to be there enough. As I said, we haven't been there since 2015. So this is gonna be our chance to come back into that market, a place where I think there's a real need for some conferences on international white collar. What I hope to do is to start here in Singapore. And hopefully, I think we're gonna see some really good attendance from the region in Singapore uh in July. But then I want to make a really concerted effort to start to reach out to these other jurisdictions in the region and begin to build what we have in Europe and build that in Asia. And I think Singapore is probably gonna be a great place to do that because it's a place that people are used to going to for conferences. It's an easy place to travel because it's really easy to fly in there. There's lots of airlines that uh fly in into Singapore from all of the regional hubs. Uh and and so, yeah, I think you know this is gonna be our first Singapore event, but Joe, I think you're gonna have a chance to come out to Singapore, come out to Asia down the road as well.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

Thank you, Lucian. Any questions? Uh, Nina, I I've kept you uh from uh away from asking questions.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

I know, I can't believe you've been doing that. And I've got so many to ask. Um most importantly, or not most importantly, but perhaps fundamentally, this location that you picked, Lucien, looks incredible. And if I recall correctly, you had to wait some time before the location was ready for you. Tell tell us a little bit about that. Because it looks, you know, where the conference is held is always certainly uh a draw for people. So tell us about that.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Yes, we're gonna be the Asian Civilizations Museum, and we did actually push this conference back a year because it was undergoing a major renovation. So the bad news was we had to wait a little longer to get to Singapore than we had wanted to. The good news is this is gonna be a spectacular venue for us. It's a historic building, uh right on the water uh in downtown Singapore. So the location is is wonderful as far as you have a chance to get different hotels that they like to be able to get to all the attractions that are in the area. Um, and I love the fact that we're in a historic building. I think that's gonna be really, really exceptional. Uh, but of course, because it's just been renovated, we're gonna have all the amenities that we need to put on a great conference, all of our audio visual and the facilities are are are gonna be pristine. So I'm really excited about that. And I will say uh that uh we are staying or we have a room block for those who don't have their own sort of, I know a lot of people like to stay at their own their own hotel brands, which I get like to get the points. But our hotel of choice where we've secured a room block with a special rate is the Fullerton Hotel Singapore, which is also a historic building, and it's just a short walk across a pedestrian bridge to the Asian Civilization Museum. So you're right there. And I will say that this mute this uh hotel uh was built in 1928, so it's just this beautiful building, uh, very classic, very historical uh building. And then you get to walk across the water on this pedestrian bridge, and you're right there at the conference venue, and that's where we're gonna have the reception on Monday night as well, uh right there near the water. So, yeah, it's it's gonna be a great venue for us. I'm I'm really excited about it. And I think uh, you know, Singapore, I've never been there, so I can't speak with expertise, but as I understand it, uh this is gonna be a good launching point for people who come out, hopefully get to spend a few extra days in town, and you can get from the full art end to all the attractions that you might want to see in town.

SPEAKER_02 14:12

So it's a great um jumping off point for people to plan a summer holiday, that's for sure. And I've I'll bet a bunch of your attendees are in fact doing that.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

I hope so. Yeah, you can, you know, I I checked where you can get to pretty easily from Singapore, and it turns out there's lots of places. So you could do Singapore for a few days and then jump to someplace else as well. That's what I'm gonna do. Uh the family's gonna come out. We're gonna do about another week uh out that way before we we come home because it's a long flight, obviously, so you want to make the most of it. But once you get there, you know, our flights after that are like an hour and a half, two hours, and we're we're all over the place. It's gonna be really exciting.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

Yeah, there's a lot of places to go in Southeast Asia that's not too far from each other. Let's jump in and talk a little bit about these panels you've got teed up. I see you've got one on AI that looks fascinating. Tell us a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Yeah, I mean, you gotta talk about AI these days, right? Because it's just there's so much stuff going on, so such an interesting area. So uh this panel is called Artificial Intelligence and its impact on legal practice and compliance. So, kind of two focus areas for this one. Uh, we're gonna think about sort of, you know, what does this mean for our day-to-day work? How can we use AI to benefit us? How is AI being used uh by individuals throughout both the legal profession and the compliance world? So, you know, what does it look like on the compliance side? How can AI use to help us in that way? And then naturally, I think we're also gonna talk about sort of what is the role of AI uh with regards to white collar offenses and how is this all sort of piecing together? So I think that'll be a very fluid discussion and we've got some great representation on there coming in from various countries. Uh so we'll get to hear what those countries are up to. We're gonna get to hear about sort of how practitioners are seeing this uh in their work. And uh Nina, I'm sure you remember uh that when we were in Geneva, this was a really well-received panel, and then there was a video that somebody made me being arrested uh for stealing some documents. Uh so that's just a taste of of sort of why this is such an interesting area. Um I you know, I think we're gonna see this continue to become um more and more integrated. There's been a lot of interesting reporting out of the Times over the last year about these compounds in Southeast Asia where a lot of fraud is being perpetrated from inside this sort of office complex, and that's how sophisticated it is. And that can be computer crime, uh, you know, internet fraud, it can be telephone fraud, it can be credit card fraud, all types of things. But there's lots of nuance and interesting things happening here. There have been a bunch of raids of these recently, and it turns out some of the individuals working at these are actually traffic individuals, they're victims of human trafficking, and they're forced to engage in these white-collar frauds from these compounds. So I just think, you know, the the introduction of AI, the use of AI by these large syndicates, I think it's gonna be really interesting to think about. And this is a panel where we're gonna start to delve into some of those issues. Probably just be the tip of the iceberg, because I think you could probably do a day and a half on AI at this point, but we're gonna do a great panel to kick things off after the enforcers to talk about AI. And I think that'll that'll get everybody at least thinking about all the issues that present themselves there.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

Yeah, and and and probably will to some extent bleed into the other subject panel that you have. I mean, the timeliness of the AI panel speaks, but in addition to that, you also I see panels on um a new world order, which includes we're all talking about the new world order and hot topics two I know are gonna be explosive panels. You wanna tell our listeners a little bit about what they can expect from those panels? Should they be fortunate enough to make the same work?

SPEAKER_00 18:26

Yeah, I mean, the the the New World Order and Enforcement Trends panel, I mean, it's gonna talk about sort of what is a shifting landscape. Um, and I think we're gonna be in a great location for this conversation. We all know that the DOJ has been reassessing the FCPA program, reassessing priorities. For a long, long time now, of course, the US has been the leader in this space. And this is one of the things we chatted about in Geneva, because in Geneva, that that enforcers panel that we started off with were the signatories of the new memorandum of understanding where Europe was gonna kind of start to take the lead on the enforcement of anti-corruption globally. And I think that we're gonna see something similar in Asia. So again, on that uh enforcers panel right before this conversation, we've got representatives from Singapore and we've got representatives from Australia, and uh and and uh and so what I think we're gonna see is that this remains a really pressing issue for lots of different countries. But with the US beginning to step back, we need to learn sort of how this is gonna work going forward and how the sort of collaborative environment that has really dominated for the last decade or two in the in the anti-corruption space, what is that gonna look like? How it's gonna unfold in the future? Is there gonna be a new leader? Is there gonna be a larger sort of collaboration with joint leadership? I think that's gonna be a real question that people ask. And I think that's gonna be the panel where we're gonna get some answers. We just had to do a hot topics panel because the truth is, with all the planning that goes into this, something's gonna happen that we're not prepared for, right? We gotta be ready to have a panel to talk about it when it does happen. So there's plenty of hot topics that have happened in the last six months. We're ready to talk about those, but we are also ready to talk about whatever happens in the next few weeks before we get there. And so we're gonna be able to hit the ground running. If something breaks that day, we're in the room talking about it. And what's so exciting about this conference, and the reason I really think people need to sign up and attend to this, is if something is happening, which we know it is, if something is late breaking news, and it probably will be, you are gonna be sitting in the room with the leading practitioners in the world on this subject, and you're gonna have a cutting-edge conversation about it in a way that you can't do anywhere else.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

Wow, I love the flexibility. Joe, I'm kicking it back to you. What do you got for Lucian?

SPEAKER_01 20:51

Well, I just I was just thinking about uh Lucian's presentation and the remarks and was thinking, Lucian, what have we missed? Is there anything that you know you'd like to share with the audience about your program? Which obviously the price point on this program is great, right? I mean, it's a real bargain, certainly.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

It's very competitive. Yeah, people pay a lot more uh to go to other events. I think we have just a lot to offer here. I'll just mention a couple other panels so people know how full this program is gonna be. If you want a chance to hear from general counsel from leading global corporations, particularly those that are headquarters centered in this part of the world, we've got a panel on that. So you're gonna get interacting, you're gonna get to hear from them about what their priorities are. And of course, so many great networking opportunities. Right after that, general counsel's panel, we're gonna have our reception for the evening. So that'll be a really nice chance to talk with the speakers, talk with the other attendees. You know, we learn a lot of these events, but I always tell people these are also really significant networking events, right? People meet other practitioners from all over the world, they get to interact with enforcers, they get to interact. With general counsel. This is a place where you can really develop a network that'll be incredibly helpful for you and your practice as you move forward. On day two, I already chatted about that fireside chat we're having in the morning with Justice Zervos. Very excited about that conversation. And then we're going to do something that we tend to always do, it's always incredibly popular, and that is our cross-border investigation panel. And that is, as always, uh brought to you by the ABA, uh, the ABA book, an International Guide to Corporate Internal Investigations. And so we're going to have a bunch of authors from that book uh there to talk with you about it, including individuals from Australia, from France, from Switzerland, from the UAE, from London, from DC. So again, just kind of a great illustration of how diverse this presentation is going to be, how global it's going to be. And then we're going to finish off talking about financial crimes, including money laundering, export control, and sanctions, something that's always on people's minds, particularly today, in what is a really complex and evolving world of sanctions and uh and export control. So I think it's going to be a fabulous day and a half. And uh I really think people will be missing out if they don't sign up. Uh again, check out the website uh through the criminal justice section uh because you get to learn a lot more about the event there, and hopefully uh you're gonna register and I'm gonna see you there.

SPEAKER_02 23:30

Sounds good to me. Uh we didn't even touch upon your money laundering panel, which you know that certainly piques my interest as well. I mean, there's just so much to talk about. It's gonna be such an incredible, incredible conference, Lucy. And how's your how's your uh registration looking?

SPEAKER_00 23:47

It's looking good. We're we're we're getting people there. And uh, you know, I think that one of the things I really enjoy about this conference is we do these incredible panels where we get to learn and then we spill out into these coffees, you know, all the time. We have these coffee breaks scattered throughout. We've got the luncheon, we've got the um, we've got the reception on Monday night. So just such a good chance to to not just learn, but have fun. I mean, it's gonna be an incredible event, an incredible learning opportunity. But I also think I want to end by saying it's gonna be a lot of fun. Uh, and so people, I hope people are gonna come out to Singapore. Uh, I obviously those people who are in Singapore, you know, I hope you'll come down uh to the event. We're we're seeing interest in the region. I've had calls in the last few weeks with uh India and uh Thailand and Japan. And again, I think there's just interest in coming together. And Singapore is just a great place to come together and have this conversation, uh, to network, uh, to meet new friends, to see old friends. So yeah, it's gonna be a fun event. I'm really looking forward to it.

SPEAKER_02 24:53

It really is. It's such an international city, Singapore, and and you've got representation from so many countries there. I mean I think I think as you get closer, the excitement and energy is just gonna keep building uh your social activity sound great. You said you've got a reception coming up. What's the reception?

SPEAKER_00 25:14

Yeah, so we're gonna do a reception on Monday night. So Monday is the full day and then Tuesday is a half day. And so we always like to finish Monday with a nice reception at the end of the day. It gives a chance of people to decompress after a day of learning and a chance to really meet each other uh and and engage in that networking and just have a nice time. And then people tend to drift off to dinners at the end of the reception and all. So it's a really good, I think, really good middle point for the event. Uh, and then we do have a luncheon, which we've made into a networking luncheon on Monday. So we're not gonna have a speaker at lunch. We're just gonna give people a chance to to to talk to each other uh and to meet new friends. Uh so I think that's really exciting. Um, yeah, and then uh I think you know, I think we're gonna maybe try to plan something for Tuesday afternoon for those who are interested. Maybe I think there's a tour of the Supreme Court in the works, so that's something we'll learn more about as we get a little bit closer. But I think a lot of people also like to just go out on Tuesday and kind of explore the the city on their own a little bit, and that's always nice as well. So yeah, no, plenty of plenty of time built in purposefully to this program to make sure there's lots of opportunity to socialize and and meet your fellow attendees. So yeah, I hope people will uh will sign up. We've got we've got room, so uh take a look at that website and sign up when you get a chance.

SPEAKER_02 26:31

And uh I I think with that, uh I'm Nina Marino.

SPEAKER_00 26:36

And I'm Joe Whitley.

SPEAKER_02 26:38

And you've been listening to White Color Talks with Nina and Joe. Thanks for tuning in.