Our investigations team, drawing on our years of private sector, law enforcement and in-house experience, has developed this "Investigations Toolkit" for clients and friends to help guide them through certain issues likely to arise in the context of corporate investigations. Each tool in the "Library" is intended to offer a high level overview of the topic and will link to additional resources that may be helpful. This resource toolkit will be updated regularly with topics of interest, thought leadership, webinars, forms and relevant news reports. If further detail is needed, please contact one of our Team Members.

Library

Guides

Considerations for Conducting Employee Interviews: A Primer for Investigations	Parallel Civil and Criminal Investigations: A Primer
Considerations for Joint Defense Agreement	Protecting the Privilege
Elements of an Effective Compliance Program	The Importance of an Effective Upjohn Warning
Employee Issues Arising in Investigations	Threats to Privilege
Evidence Preservation: A Primer for Investigations	When a Whistleblower Calls
Laying the Groundwork for an Effective Investigation: Initial Considerations	Strategies for Responding to Congressional Investigations & Subpoenas

External Resources

Ethical Rules

These links contain useful information and American Bar Association guidance that should be considered when conducting an investigation. Questions concerning the simultaneous representation of a company and its employees or the representation of multiple witnesses in the same investigation require careful analysis.

DOJ Guidance - Corporate Liability of Businesses

These links provide useful information for companies facing a federal criminal investigation, including what factors DOJ prosecutors must consider before charging a company, how DOJ expects its prosecutors to assess a company’s compliance program, how prosecutors decide whether to charge employees when a company is charged, and how DOJ instructs its prosecutors to calculate corporate fines and penalties.

FCPA Guidance - DOJ & SEC

The U.S. enforcement authorities for the FCPA (DOJ and SEC) release guides and policy documentation that can aid persons or companies to better understand the FCPA (prohibitions, defenses and jurisdiction) and better understand how the authorities weigh perceived culpability against how a person or company chooses to engage with the DOJ and SEC during an investigation.

Antitrust Guidance

The Antitrust Division Manual (DOJ) provides an overview of the statutes enforced by the Antitrust Division, including the criminal provisions of the Sherman Act and the criminal offenses that arise from conduct accompanying antitrust violations. This manual also contains links to the Division’s guidelines (see, e.g., Horizontal Merger Guidelines), providing companies with useful insight concerning the analytical techniques and evidence that the Division relies on to assess anticompetitive behavior that lessens competition.

SEC and CFTC Guidance

The SEC and CFTC Enforcement Manuals provide detailed explanations of how the Enforcement Divisions of each agency decide when to open and close investigations and how a company or person being scrutinized can formally participate in the investigative process. They also provide useful information concerning the assertion of privilege, the right to counsel when being questioned and what notice a company or witness should expect to get from the respective Enforcement Divisions when they are the focus of an inquiry or investigation.

The annual SEC whistleblower reports contain useful background information about the purpose of the program and the activities of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, which companies and individuals can use to better understand the focus of the program and incentives offered to current and former employees to report suspected misconduct.