Government & Internal Investigations

Conducting investigations

Sometimes a company or its board of directors wants or needs to conduct an investigation to understand the facts of a matter so the company can assess its legal exposure, avoid reputational damage, protect the company’s financial interests, or make an employment decision regarding an employee or group of employees whose conduct may violate law or policy.

Indeed, many companies are required by law to conduct an impartial, thorough investigation when an allegation of wrongdoing arises or to identify inadequate internal controls or policies.  Even if a company is not required by law to conduct an investigation, government enforcement officials often credit companies that voluntarily conduct internal investigations as a good business practice, so more and more companies are proactively undertaking such investigations.  In addition, these investigations enable a company to respond appropriately to misconduct or compliance deficiencies and mitigate any allegation that the company turned a blind eye to claims of misconduct.

BittmanLaw has decades of experience

BittmanLaw has decades of experience conducting internal investigations for companies and boards of directors around the world.  We also represent employees under investigation by their employer.  BittmanLaw helps large and small companies conduct targeted, efficient internal investigations of any allegation or concern – from a whistleblower complaint, hotline report, government inquiry, news report, outside auditor, or other source.  While such internal investigations are usually protected by attorney-client privilege and/or attorney work product, we sometimes – and only after discussion and careful evaluation of the risks and benefits – conduct non-privileged investigations that will or may be disclosed to government, law enforcement, or another third party.

BittmanLaw can assist and work with the client’s Internal Audit function to conduct an investigation, and, as necessary or requested, we also work with outside investigative firms, forensic consultants, accounting firms, or other partners.