Over the past year, there have been significant decisions and developments in the law and practice affecting attorney-client privilege and the role of in-house counsel more generally in the conduct of internal investigations. Whether outside counsel is retained, the ethics landscape is now a minefield of issues arising from expansion of post-financial crisis and other corporate compliance programs, and the number of internal investigations companies are, as a result, likely to conduct.

In this seminar, leading white collar litigation and corporate governance practitioners will explore these issues in a panel presentation identifying the key aspects of recent rulings and best practices in the fast-changing world of internal investigations. Among the issues to be discussed will be:

• The current state of government expectations as to privilege waiver;
• How recent judicial decisions have framed the contours of the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine in internal investigations, including:
• the D.C. Circuit’s decision in the Halliburton proceeding;
• Judge Furman’s decision in in re GM Ignition Switch Litigation;
• Magistrate Judge Gorenstein’s ruling in the Bank of China case;
• Rulings by Delaware courts in Section 220 shareholder discovery cases, such as Wal-Mart, and their impact on investigations;
• The potential impact of an expanded “common interest” doctrine under New York law, as articulated in the Ambac case;
• How the SEC’s and U.S. Department of Labor’s limits on confidentiality restrictions affect investigative practice

To learn more about this event, please contact debevoiseevents@debevoise.com.