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In various industries across Latin America, Africa, and Asia, markets have emerged and continue to evolve. Multinational corporations have no difficulty establishing and exploiting various lucrative opportunities.
However, these opportunities also carry significant risks of white-collar crime, including fraud, bribery, corruption, and money laundering.
One name is making ripples across the legal practice, addressing pressing issues on the continued prevalence of white-collar crime: Pamela Forero. As a leading expert in criminal law with specialized expertise in human rights, gender-based violence, and transnational compliance investigations,
Forero is the person to look for with every complicated case. Throughout her career, she has developed sophisticated strategies specifically tailored to companies’ operations, addressing safety and ethical needs when creating bylaws, especially in challenging environments.
Even when she’s not the one called to the case, Forero is set apart because of her passion. And one way she embraces this is through never-ending continuous education: “I'm always reading the news, commenting on cases, and uploading my opinion about it through platforms like TikTok,” she says.
“I also write about it, or I am discussing it with somebody, and always coming up with solutions inside my head. I ask what I would have done as a compliance officer in this company, for example, in order to prevent this from happening?”
In every case Forero could have handled, she tries to frame it as her responsibility, which leads her to handle the actual cases with ease. She makes this a point: “What tools do we have in order to make sure that this never happens again? How would you litigate this? How would you strategize this?’
Forero’s Frontline Experience
Since the beginning of her career, Forero has been on the front lines of white-collar crime. First and foremost, she was educated in Colombia, at the prestigious Universidad de los Andes, earning her Bachelor’s in Law. Her early experience as a teaching assistant, in which she taught courses on corporations, criminal law, civil law, and Roman law, exposed her to white-collar crime. She was also the coach for her university’s Moot Court team and successfully led them to a first-place win nationally.
Later on, Forero enrolled at Universidad del Rosario to earn a specialized degree in Criminal Law, where she shone as more than just a stellar student.
Forero graduated with a diploma for academic excellence, equivalent to summa cum laude. She easily belonged to the top 3% of the class.
Before she left Colombia to relocate to New York to attend Cornell Law School, Forero also gained additional experience as a litigation attorney, a white-collar crime adjunct professor, and a compliance manager. She further packed her credentials by earning a certificate as a compliance officer in May 2022.
Forero’s experience as a litigation attorney was in-depth and nuanced, including work on constitutional injunctions before the Colombian Constitutional Court and direct engagement with complex human rights matters. Ethical violations in white-collar crime, alongside working in high-risk environments, became her everyday life.
She also led legal risk assessments and field investigations, all while representing vulnerable populations in cases requiring strict confidentiality and ethical obligations.
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Later on, she became even more familiar with white-collar crime as an adjunct professor at Universidad de los Andes. She recalls: “I taught white-collar crime at the university level for about a year and a half. It wasn’t a small undertaking because I was teaching over 100 students about corporate crime, fraud, corruption, and bribery. My goal was to explain the legal frameworks, and I wanted the students to understand how these issues actually play out in real business environments.”
Forero adds: “I placed a very strong emphasis on ethical decision-making, internal controls, and professional responsibility. These students were going to become the next generation of lawyers, compliance officers, and business leaders. I wanted them to leave my classroom able to spot regulatory and reputational risks before they become major problems. This was for the companies they work for, as well as for the people affected by those decisions.
“It was incredibly rewarding to see them start thinking critically about how compliance and ethics aren’t just theoretical concepts, but practical tools that can prevent real harm.”
Finally, Forero's experience as a compliance manager at a nationally recognized law firm gave her a substantial edge. Her expertise was further honed in handling multilingual and cross-border inquiries involving fraud, corruption, and bribery.
Forero recalls: “When I served as Compliance Manager at the firm, I was the primary lead responsible for the firm’s internal investigations and overall compliance function. I designed and implemented my own compliance framework from the ground up. It placed a strong emphasis on managing conflicts, protecting confidentiality, handling sensitive information appropriately, and establishing clear risk-escalation protocols.”
She adds that due diligence was always central to her approach: “I conducted thorough reviews of clients and matters, assessing reputational, commercial, sanctions, and ethical risks before any business decisions were made. Over time, this positioned me as a trusted advisor to senior leadership on regulatory exposure, conflicts, and cross-border issues.”
One of Forero’s most important responsibilities was building and training a multidisciplinary team: “I prepared them to handle investigations, AML flagging, proper documentation, and ongoing compliance monitoring.
“My frameworks were always developed to align with international standards, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the U.K. Bribery Act, while remaining practical for the firm’s specific needs.”
She adds: “I believe strong compliance systems are not just about avoiding penalties. They are about creating a culture of accountability and protecting both the organization and the people it serves.”
All in all, Forero has an edge in criminal law and white collar crime, equipped with both innate skill and a wealth of experience.
Her one goal is to make sure her expertise is put to good use: “You can be an asset to somebody that really needs your services, and like watching that person either resolve something personal to a business that really needs you, and is like in a point where they don't know what to do because they're going through an ethics or compliance issue that's so big that could bankrupt the entire company or just deprive them of their own funds.”
She continues: “It’s something that's always been very important to me, like that, the impact that you can make positively, of course, in someone else's life.”
Practical Strategies for Executives
By following her own framework for white-collar crime, Forero has designed practical strategies that executives can replicate. With her experience, she can craft policies that apply both generally and to specific situations. Multinational firms, for example, are part of Forero’s expertise. Her recommendation? For client and matter diligence to be as thorough as possible.
She believes everything must be executed early in the engagement process: “It’s important to ensure that reputational risks are carefully assessed. One should take into account commercial viability, sanctions exposure, and ethical concerns. That must all be done before accepting new businesses or entering new markets.”
At the same time, Forero believes multidisciplinary teams are a must. Not only must they be trained with the same due diligence, but they must also be trained in anti-money-laundering flagging.
She says: “They must be able to assess situations from a mile away. Risk escalation protocols and secure information-handling procedures must be familiar to these teams. These teams must be equipped to navigate cultural differences and local regulatory nuances while maintaining global compliance standards. All of this is important within the context of flagging and solving anti-money laundering problems.”
Conflicts of interest and confidentiality issues also can’t be avoided, but Forero’s strategies make them easier to manage. What’s critical here are policies crafted around such issues, tailored to both headquarters requirements and local laws. Above all, human rights considerations must be prioritized. Compliance programs and protections against gender-based violence and labor exploitation must be carefully looked at and included in the policies.
She relates how her experience has made all the policy-making possible: “I was a litigation attorney for the Ombudsman's Office here in Colombia, and that was a very important stepping stone, even if it was my first, because all of the work was designed and directed towards assisting people who needed it.” Above everything else, her work and passion is in the service of others. As she explains: “And that was the priority—like it was legally our responsibility to only litigate cases that were of national interest, and that would depend on the mission of the Ombudsman.” With her experience, the policies she makes go above and beyond and can be applied on the national level.
Building Resilient Ethical Systems
Aside from policies, Forero also crafts resilient ethical systems. This is also deeply informed by her earlier career, both as a litigation attorney and as a professor. Litigating constitutional injunctions involving complex human rights matters, as well as conducting field investigations in restricted areas. This experience taught her the critical importance of discretion, precision, and institutional accountability when dealing with vulnerable populations.
She relates it back to her earlier experiences, which is built into her upbringing: “Having a strong sense of justice and discussing ethics were conversations we had when I was growing up. I think I just incorporated that into my professional life, and started investigating a lot about that. It ended up being what I was going to work in through criminal law as well.”
Ethical systems address, first and foremost, the legitimacy of the crime. Laws aren’t just a list of rules to follow, especially in the tricky situations that Forero faces. They are also used to reflect moral judgments, which she always emphasizes. One has to ask: what was the crime, and what punishment does it deserve? What consequences need to be in place?
This is what Forero deals with on a daily basis. She works on crimes like money-laundering schemes and guides interpretation and discretion regarding vague laws, ensuring that justice is served properly. Due process, presumption of innocence, and equal protection is given high priority.
A Values-Based Strategic Imperative
Forero is stalwart in her commitment to the principles of the law. She has the innate moral compass that guides her ability to lead investigations and guide resolutions.
As a lawyer, she knows how much stands in the balance of every move she makes. As she explains: “Doing a lot of harm as an attorney is very easy, and being the kind of person that is dedicated to making sure that harm isn't made, and when harm was made, be the person that has to resolve that—that is always a core value that I feel like is very important, and one of my biggest personal passions that transcends into my professional aspect.”
There is no doubt that Forero has turned heads in the industry. Christine E. Ohenewah, an adjunct professor at Hofstra University, admires her intellect and expertise: “Pamela’s experience gives her a clear understanding of how fraud and corruption risks actually develop inside companies operating in high-risk regions. It allows her to offer practical solutions that go beyond standard legal advice.”
“Her ability to break down complex regulatory frameworks and explain how they apply in real business environments makes her particularly effective at helping multinational firms build compliance programs. Especially when they work on the ground in emerging markets, not just on paper.”
The director of master’s studies in Universidad del Rosario, Francisco Bernate Ochoa, who oversaw Forero’s work as a mentor in the university, agrees: ‘Pamela was invited to mentor because of her recognized expertise in criminal law and economic crime,” he recalls.
“This was combined with her experience analyzing complex legal issues in both public and private sectors, which made her a perfect mentor.”
He adds: “Pamela’s ability to independently evaluate advanced research and provide rigorous, constructive feedback reflects the analytical judgment and specialized knowledge that multinational organizations require to build effective compliance systems in high-risk markets.
“If an individual or organization requires a legal professional who can provide steadfast support during critical challenges, Pamela is undoubtedly the definitive example to follow.”
For businesses seeking to operate responsibly in high-risk emerging markets, Forero offers a clear path toward sustainable, values-driven growth.
She says: “I want to help companies avoid getting in trouble. I want to help them build systems that actually protect people. This includes employees, communities, and vulnerable populations, who are often the first to suffer when compliance fails. At the end of the day, strong ethical frameworks aren’t just good for business. They’re about making sure that the work we do leaves a positive impact instead of harm.”
