Nate Lankford commented on the results of Baker McKenzie's recent compliance survey, which found that only 18 percent of companies involve compliance staff "substantively" in planning and executing big mergers. The survey could help make the case for a more central corporate role for compliance, Lankford said, adding that the survey also found that expanding companies are more than twice as likely to involve top compliance staff in key decisions, including mergers, than companies that are shrinking.