Economic crimes – including fraud, corruption, bribery and money laundering – often unfold quietly, hidden within complex financial systems, corporate structures and layers of documentation. Their effects, however, can be profound, undermining public trust, damaging communities and threatening democratic institutions themselves.
These questions sit at the heart of Professor Jennifer Quaid’s research, which explores how legal systems respond to economic crime, corporate wrongdoing and corruption in Canada and abroad. Through both her scholarship and public engagement, Professor Quaid has become one of Canada’s leading voices on the challenges of regulating corporate misconduct in an increasingly complex global environment. Her work will continue to shape international conversations this summer when she participates in a conference in Paris examining negotiated justice and anti-corruption law from a comparative perspective.
Professor Quaid’s work was also recently featured in the latest issue of Futurum (page 40). In a profile entitled “Bribery, forgery and fraud: the murky world of economic crime”, she discusses the unique difficulties involved in investigating and prosecuting economic crime, particularly when wrongdoing occurs within large organizations.
“Economic crimes committed by businesses are more challenging to bring to justice because the evidence can be buried within mountains of documents and private transactions,” she explains in the profile. “Unlike other types of crime, there’s no specific event that signals that a crime has happened, so investigators are always playing catch-up.”
The article also highlights Professor Quaid’s research on remediation agreements – legal mechanisms that allow organizations accused of certain economic crimes to avoid criminal conviction by admitting wrongdoing and fulfilling strict conditions, such as financial penalties or victim compensation. While designed to encourage accountability without causing disproportionate harm to innocent employees, shareholders and communities, remediation agreements have remained controversial in Canada since their introduction in 2018.
Professor Quaid’s research explores both the promise and the limitations of these mechanisms, particularly as governments around the world grapple with how to combat corporate wrongdoing while preserving public confidence in legal institutions.
Those questions will feature prominently during the June 9, 2026 conference, “La justice négociée et la lutte contre la criminalité financière : perspectives compares”, hosted by the Société de législation comparée in partnership with the University of Ottawa’s Civil Law Section, Université Bourgogne Europe and Université Panthéon Sorbonne. Bringing together scholars and practitioners from Canada, France and Switzerland, the event will examine how different legal systems have adapted or resisted models of negotiated justice, particularly in the context of anti-corruption enforcement.
Professor Quaid’s presentation will focus on Canada’s remediation agreement regime and the broader evolution of negotiated justice in corporate criminal law. The conference comes at a particularly significant moment, as France evaluates its own anti-corruption framework 10 years after the Loi Sapin II was adopted and jurisdictions around the world reconsider the balance between prosecutorial discretion, corporate accountability and public transparency.
The conference is free and open to all. Advanced registration is required through Ms. Emmanuelle Bouvier before June 8 at: [email protected]
The conference reflects the increasingly international scope of Professor Quaid’s research. Her work connects doctrinal legal analysis with broader questions about democratic governance, institutional legitimacy and the public interest.As public concern about corruption, financial misconduct and institutional trust continues to grow, Professor Quaid offers an important reminder: economic crime is never simply about money. Its consequences can reshape public institutions, weaken confidence in democratic systems and affect communities far beyond the immediate parties involved.