Legal Alerts/Details

Internal Investigations in the Time of COVID-19:
Preserving Attorney-Client Privilege, Work Product, and Confidentiality

June 16, 2020
Footnotes:
  1. See Steven Peikin, Co-Dir., Div. of Enf’t, U.S. Sec. & Exch. Comm’n, Keynote Address: Securities Enforcement Forum West 2020, SEC.gov (May 12, 2020), https://www.sec.gov/news/speech/keynote-securities-enforcement-forum-west-2020 (noting “this recent market decline and continuing economic stress may well reveal past misconduct, or result in new misconduct”).
  2. See Public Service Announcement No. I-040120-PSA, Fed. Bureau of Investigation, Cyber Actors Take Advantage of COVID-19 Pandemic to Exploit Increased Use of Virtual Environments (Apr. 1, 2020), https://www.ic3.gov/media/2020/200401.aspx.
  3. See also Margaret Meyers, Daniel Zinman, and Lee Richards, Defending Remote Testimony in White Collar, Securities Cases, Law360 (May 27, 2020, 5:45 p.m.), https://www.law360.com/articles/1273949/defending-remote-testimony-in-white-collar-securities-cases (discussing various approaches to sharing documents during remote depositions).
  4. See, e.g., Recording Notifications, Zoom.US, https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360000486746-Recording-Notifications (last visited May 29, 2020) (noting “Zoom will always notify meeting participants that a meeting is being recorded. It is not possible to disable this notification").
  5. See, for example, Recording Phone Calls and Conversations, Justia.com, https://www.justia.com/50-state-surveys/recording-phone-calls-and-conversations/ (last updated Jan. 2018), for an overview of state and federal laws governing legality of recording phone calls, and consult with an experienced attorney  regarding fact-specific inquiries.
  6. See Dylan Tokar, Shelter-in-Place Orders Pose Challenges for Government Probes, WSJ.com (May 20, 2020, 6:19 p.m.) (citing Daniel Kahn, senior deputy chief in the U.S. Department of Justice’s criminal fraud section, acknowledging challenges maintaining compliance with limited resources may arise during COVID-19, but emphasizing “[e]xecutives should document rationales for decisions they make and be prepared to explain them”). 
  7. See ABA Model Rule of Prof’l Conduct 1.6.

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