General counsel face few responsibilities more sensitive and less comfortable than managing an internal investigation. In the fundamental interest of protecting the corporate entity, full cooperation with regulators and prosecutors is often the best course. But given the government’s growing proclivity to levy charges against individuals, full cooperation may not be in the best interest of the employees and executives involved.
“That particular tension is one of the most difficult things that any in-house counsel can manage,” says Christopher Madel, a white-collar partner at Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi. “It’s never a black-and-white issue.”
