Recommended Practices for Conducting Internal Investigations

The ACTL Federal Criminal Procedure Committee has observed counsel implementing a wide variety of procedures and protocols in conducting corporate internal investigations for public and other companies. This has resulted in variances both in treatment of officers and employees and in the outcomes of the investigations for such officers and employees and the companies themselves. The Committee issued Recommended Practices for Conducting Internal Investigations to provide guidance on what it believes to be the most balanced and effective practices for conducting internal investigations of possible corporate wrongdoing. Although the principles articulated in the paper are tailored to corporate internal investigations relating to public companies, when significant allegations of malfeasance are alleged or suspected, corporate decision-makers and counsel who advise them may apply many of these principles to other entities and investigations of all breadths.

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