On the past, I've written about delinquent communities where people have aided and abetting financial fraud. Auditors have helped cook the books, lawyers have provided advice on how to get around the law and executives have looked the other way or helped themselves to the spoils.

That's what attracted me to the observations of Professor John Coffee from Columbia Law School. Professor Coffee argues that corporate governance "gatekeepers" need greater scrutiny. He elaborated on this point when he was in Australia the other week and his proposals were written up in the Australian Institute of Company Directors newsletter The Boardroom Report.

One of his proposals would put the lawyers in charge of the company's Stock Exchange filings. They would have to certify that all the statements were true and correct and they would have to sign a statement saying they were not aware of any hidden booby traps that would damage shareholder wealth.

In effect, the idea would turn lawyers into auditors. The would have to be independent, sceptical and their first duty would be to investors.

Not a bad idea.

Very interesting in the context of the allegations surrounding Hollinger's former corporate counsel, Mark Kipnis, who is now one of the co-defendants in the Conrad Black trial. He's been accused of helping senior executives secretly skim money from the sales of six Hollinger properties. He has pleaded not guilty and faces up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for each of the indictment's seven counts. His lawyer has argued he was just "an honest man doing the best he could with the information that he had".

The question for the court is whether he turned from being a gatekeeper into a player. You can read more about that case here.