Practical Knowledge: White Collar + Investigations

Practical Knowledge: What Happens in Criminal Investigations and Prosecution, Broadly Speaking?

• How Big Is the Department of Justice and What’s Its Authority?
• What’s the Difference Between a Criminal Indictment, a Criminal Information, and a Criminal Complaint?
• What Is the Difference Between a DOJ Civil Investigation and a DOJ Criminal Investigation?
• What’s a Deferred Prosecution Agreement?
• What, Exactly, Is a Grand Jury?
• What, Exactly, Is the Attorney-Client Privilege?
• The Law Says Prosecutors Must Prove Their Case “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt." What Does That Mean?
• What, Exactly, Is “Prosecutorial Misconduct”?
• How Does Someone Obtain a Presidential Pardon?
• How Does a Judge Decide What Sentence To Impose on a Defendant?

Practical Knowledge: What Procedures Apply to a White Collar Investigation?

• What’s the Difference Between a Target, a Subject, and a Witness in a White Collar Investigation?
• Do You Have a Right to a Lawyer If You Are Testifying Before a Grand Jury?
• What Does It Really Mean To “Take the Fifth”?
• Why Are Some White-Collar Criminal Trials Decided by a Jury and Others by a Judge?
• What, Exactly, Does Congress Have the Authority To Investigate?
• Can the Securities and Exchange Commission charge me with a crime?

Practical Knowledge: What's Different in the Corporate Context?

• In the World of Corporate Criminal Investigations, What’s a Proffer?
• Can a Corporation Invoke the Fifth Amendment Right Against Self-Incrimination?
• 3 Things a Prosecutor Must Prove To Convict Your Company
• When Can a Corporate Parent Be Prosecuted for a Subsidiary’s Crimes?
• Could You Be Prosecuted for “Aiding and Abetting” a Corporate Crime?
• Are communications between a company’s lawyers and its employees protected as confidential by the attorney-client privilege?

Practical Knowledge: What Conduct Is Criminal?

• Is It a Crime To Lie to the Government Even If You Are Not Under Oath?
• What, Exactly, Is Obstruction of Justice?
• When Is a False Statement Perjury?
• What, Exactly, Is the Crime of Mail Fraud?
• What’s the Difference Between Mail Fraud and Wire Fraud?
• What’s a Criminal Conspiracy?
• What Does the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Actually Prohibit?
• How Is It Illegal for Foreign Nationals and Governments To Contribute to U.S. Campaigns?
• What’s Channel-Stuffing and Is It a Crime?
• What Is a “False Claim”?
• Can You Be Prosecuted for the Theft of Trade Secrets?
• What Is Witness Tampering?