Cases Highlight Minefield in Internal Investigations

Thu, 21 May 2009 10:25:11 GMT

March did not go out like a lamb for white-collar lawyers conducting internal investigations. Late in the month, a purported "client" of Proskauer Rose - the former chief investment officer of Stanford Financial Group - sued the law firm and one of its partners for malpractice, claiming that their negligence led to the filing of a criminal charge against her. Less than a week later, a federal judge in California referred the Irell & Manella firm to the State Bar for "appropriate discipline." This is what can happen when lawyers represent corporations in connection with suspicions of wrongdoing, and simultaneously deal with, and arguably represent, officers of those corporations. Althought the former Stanford executive withdrew her action without prejudice on April 9, 2009 (for reasons undoubtedly relating to the primacy of the criminal case), damage was still done and there are lessons to be learned.

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Ed Little to Speak on an Internal Investigation Panel at the ABA's White Collar Conference in Miami in March

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 15:51:00 GMT

The Criminal Justice Section of the ABA is holding its 22nd Annual National Institute on White Collar Crime Conference at the Miami Marriott on March 5th, 6th & 7th. Among the panel discussions is “Internal Investigations in an Age of Uncertainty: Where Do We Go from Here?”

Ed Little will be one of the speakers and expects some vigorous debate among the panelists, especially the DOJ representatives, given the written submission by Ed and Lisa Cahill – “Corporate Cooperation: Doing the Right Thing or Assisted Suicide?” – being published in the bound volume & CD available at the event.

The ABA expects record attendance at this annual event, and many law firms, accounting firms and investigative firms are hosting competing cocktail parties at various hotspots in South Beach. (Regrettably there won’t be as many potential clients in attendance.)

For a downloadable PDF version of the written submission "Corporate Cooperation: Doing the Right Thing or Assisted Suicide?", please click the icon to the right.

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Cases Highlight Minefield in Internal Investigations

Ed Little to Speak on an Internal Investigation Panel at the ABA's White Collar Conference in Miami in March