Several recent high-profile insider trading cases have highlighted the Securities and Exchange Commission’s continued focus on insider trading enforcement. In fact, according to the SEC, over the last three years it has filed more insider trading enforcement actions than in any other three-year period in its history.

This continued SEC focus serves as a reminder that public companies should periodically reevaluate their insider trading compliance policies and programs to ensure they are appropriate. Companies’ compliance programs are important not just for the employees and directors that they regulate, but also for the company as an organization. Under the federal securities laws, if a public company does not maintain adequate insider trading compliance programs and procedures, the company itself can be subject to “controlling person” liability for violations of the insider trading laws by persons that the company is deemed to control (such as employees, officers and directors).