samenvatting |
Internal investigations play an important role in criminal proceedings in the United States, especially since the publication of the Yates Memorandum: it reminds the prosecutors of article 9-28.210 U.S Attorneys Manual, an article that establishes the importance of determining individual responsibility for criminal acts within a corporation. The cooperation of the corporation in establishing individual responsibility should be an important part in the analysis whether the corporation has sufficiently assisted the authorities. The most important way of collaboration and tool to determine individual responsibility is through adequate internal investigations, which corporations conduct following the indications that the government have set. This scenario has generated an important specialization in the world of internal investigations which has to be known not only by American lawyers, but also by lawyers in other countries, due to international internal investigations which have become very common in practice. Therefore, this article will focus, from a practical point of view, on the steps to be taken to conduct an adequate internal investigation according to the ‘American way’. In particular, this article will analyze aspects such as why the internal investigations should be conducted by external lawyers, which alerts should lead to start an internal investigation, the planning of an investigation, how to react to the crisis moment, how to secure the information and how to conduct employee interviews. It will also discuss the client-attorney privilege in internal investigations (Upjohn v United States) and how to present the investigation conclusions to the corporation. |