The International Bar Association (IBA) has asked legal professionals worldwide to complete a brief anti-corruption survey.

The call comes from the IBA’s Legal Policy and Research Unit (LPRU), and is aimed at protecting the rule of law through increasing awareness among law professionals of the legal measures available to combat corruption.

Through the survey results, the IBA hopes to learn more about the forms and extent of corruption that affect legal practitioners, how they respond when placed at risk, and what kind of dangers corruption – including overseas bribery – poses to the legal profession.

Second phase

The survey, which takes five to seven minutes to complete, is part of the second phase of an anti-corruption strategy being developed by the IBA.

The IBA says that, although the term ‘corruption’ is not standardised by the IBA or the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), one commonly used definition that encompasses a wide range of corrupt practices is ‘abuse of public or private office for personal gain’.

‘Foreign bribery’ is the term used to describe situations in which businesses or people offer or provide a bribe to a foreign authority in order to gain an advantage in an international business transaction, such as obtaining an operating licence, an oil or gas concession, or a building contract.