The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) is the world's largest organization serving the professional and business interests of attorneys who practice in the legal departments of corporations, associations, nonprofits and other private-sector organizations around the globe.
Fear drives much of the agenda for internal investigations particularly in the post-SOX world. Whistleblowing has become a common office cooler topic at many companies. Whether from a whistleblowing event or normal review process, investigation findings can be a valuable source of business intelligence, risk management, and quality improvement, but how do you conduct your investigations properly?
ACC’s focus on privilege protection led us to look into the evolving (devolving?) relationship between lawyers and auditors for the company, but what we found takes us far beyond problems that arise in the context of auditor access to confidential or privileged files: additional dissatisfactions permeate the relationship. This program will present the results of this year’s examination of how to improve lawyer-auditor rapport and propose ideas to help facilitate the important work that lawyers and auditors should be working together to accomplish.
In-house counsel often has the opportunity to help shape the record around a company’s conduct and then defend the record as best they can in litigation. Take this opportunity to evaluate the steps you can take to shape the record and develop a litigation strategy that does the most with whatever the record eventually turns out to include. In addition, receive practical pointers on what government agencies conducting their own investigations expect from companies and how you can negotiate with those agencies to protect your record.
Your CEO is charged with professional misconduct-what do you do to ensure a thorough and impartial investigation? Through review of case studies, our panel will review the legal, ethical, and practical considerations when allegations involving your senior executives require immediate and intense investigation. Topics for review will include internal and external reporting of allegations and conclusions, attorney-client privilege, intimidation by the senior executive and his team, and implementation of corrective action.
Annual Meeting 2006: The increased regulatory scrutiny and civil litigation which has followed in the wake of Enron and other corporate disasters means that, more than ever‚ companies must be scrupulous about taking proper precautions to protect sensitive documents and internal investigations. In particular, the conundrum of whether to waive attorney-client privilege in the face of the demand for disclosure from regulators is one that confronts many companies.
Learn how to manage business crisis while minimizing the damage to your organization. You will receive tips on recruiting and managing public relations firms, communicating within the organization regarding a confidential crisis, and developing internal crisis management procedures. Plus gain valuable techniques for delivering news no one in the company wants to hear.
Presented at the ACC Greater New York Chapter Ethics Marathon on June 19, 2007, this document provides guidance on how to conduct investigations, in light of Hewlett Packard.