Practice Areas & Industries: Jones Day

Practice/Industry Group Overview

Knowledge or suspicion of criminal conduct within an organization may surface before or after the government commences an investigation. The existence of grand jury subpoenas; the simple allegations of employees, customers, or competitors; the results of a compliance or internal audit - all may point to criminal conduct within an organization. In such cases, and especially in light of Federal Sentencing Guidelines provisions and Department of Justice practices, frank assessment of the scope and nature of the conduct and consideration of self-disclosure of wrongdoing to the government are essential to limit the organization's criminal liability. Jones Day focuses on conducting thorough and discreet internal investigations to assess the risk of criminal liability to the organization and its individuals. Such investigations give management the tools to understand what has taken place and to decide upon appropriate courses of action, such as whether and how to voluntarily disclose criminal conduct to the government, whether to discipline those responsible, whether to waive or retain the attorney-client privilege with respect to the matters investigated, how to conduct interviews of management and employees as well as whom to interview, how to treat whistleblowers and cooperating witnesses, how to document the investigation, and how to implement measures to prevent recurrence.