Maine Law’s executive education Compliance Program is designed to enable you to develop fundamental and transferable compliance skills, whether you are an experienced compliance professional or a newcomer in this critically important field. Our innovative programming is enhanced by a partnership with the University of Maine Graduate and Professional Center and the Maine Regulatory Training and Ethics Center (MeRTEC).

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Compliance personnel regularly face three principal challenges:

  • First, what are the rules, norms and policies with which the organization is trying to comply? They may include law, regulation, contractual undertakings, industry best practices, and even aspirational goals.
  • Second, what behavior constitutes “compliance?”
  • And third, how do they motivate compliant behavior throughout the organization.

Our non-degree Compliance Program will teach you practical solutions to these challenges and introduce you to a professional network of individuals who can support and facilitate your talents in this field for years to come.

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Program Format

Our Compliance Program is presented entirely online. You’ll complete work asynchronously on our learning platform with no scheduled meeting times required. We know there are many demands for a working professional’s time each week which is why we have designed the Compliance Program with exactly that in mind. The program is paced to require only four to five hours per week.

Program Requirements

The Compliance Program takes just 4 months to complete, running from early February through late May.  Our instructors bring extensive subject-matter background and experience to the Compliance Program and teach the modules collaboratively.

We begin our Compliance Program with the Foundational Principles module, which explores the foundational principles of compliance and enterprise risk management. Following the Foundational Principles module, our Compliance Program presents a series of additional modules which explore the application of the foundational principles in the context of topics that are relevant to virtually all businesses and other organizations today. These modules are designed to give participants practical understanding of the various tasks expected of compliance professionals and how to perform them. Topics include:

We begin our Compliance Program with the Foundational Principles module, which explores the foundational principles of compliance, including the sources of compliance requirements, determining behavior that satisfies those requirements, and how compliance personnel can motivate complaint behavior throughout their organization.  Participants will examine the language of compliance, how to anticipate and address various compliance issues, the motivations and agendas of the various players on the compliance stage, and the structure and elements of a successful compliance program.  This module will also present basic concepts and strategies of enterprise risk management, risk identification, and risk mitigation, and will address the role that compliance plays in overall enterprise risk management and the interplay between the risk management and compliance functions in the organization.

Using case studies and hands-on exercises to offer practical strategies in this complex field, this module explores the fundamentals of contract formation, management, and administration from a compliance perspective, including pre-solicitation requirements, the role of various stakeholders, due diligence, contract award, collateral policies and procedures, as well as the role of technology and ethical and social justice considerations in contracting and contract management.

Compliance professionals must be alert to the possibility of various types of corruption and corrupt practices, whether occurring within the organization or among its counterparties and constituents.  This module will cover some of the most prevalent kinds, including bribery, commercial bribery, money laundering, fraud, and conflicts of interest, and it will address compliance policies and procedures intended to deter, detect and deflect risky practices. 

This module will address the legal framework governing the workplace and the compliance challenges it presents. Topics will include the formation and termination of the employment relationship, discrimination in the workplace, the ADA and its accommodation requirements, sexual harassment, retaliation, and other key statutes, regulations, and judicial decisions, focusing in particular on structuring appropriate compliance strategies and initiatives for addressing the nuances and often competing interests presented by these topics.

The fast-evolving world of information privacy and data security presents ever-evolving challenges to compliance professionals. This module will address the underlying legal and regulatory framework and examine many of the principal considerations, tools and methodologies available to compliance professionals in building and implementing information privacy and cyber security programs.

When wrongdoing or misconduct occurs or is suspected within an organization, an investigation typically follows to determine underlying facts.  Compliance professionals within the organization are often involved in — and may even lead — the investigatory process and the resulting disciplinary and remedial consequences. Using actual examples and hypothetical situations, this module will cover the dynamics of internal and governmental investigations, the roles that compliance professionals may play in them, best practices, conduct to be avoided, and traps for the unwary. 

Each module includes video presentations by one or more instructors, suggested readings, on-line asynchronous discussions with instructors and other participants, and knowledge checks to gauge your progress. In addition, we supplement the asynchronous work with optional, regularly scheduled  one-hour panel discussions and interactive  sessions that meet via video-conference to give you an opportunity to interact live with the Compliance Program’s instructors, professionals in the field, and fellow learners in real time.

At the conclusion of the Compliance Program, we will recognize participants who complete the Foundational Principles module and at least four of the succeeding modules with a Certificate of Completion.

The cost of the Compliance Program is $2,000.

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If you have any questions, please contact complianceprogram@maine.edu or 207.780.4368.