Mills & Williams News and Events

Initial Response Critical in White-Collar Criminal Investigations
Mills & Williams’ Cain Points to Need for Legal Assistance

(Dallas) As part of a recent two-day Human Resource Roundtable, Teresa Cain, a white collar criminal defense attorney at Dallas’ Mills & Williams L.L.P., spoke to corporate policy makers about the growing number of white-collar criminal investigations and how to appropriately respond to a governmental investigation.

Noting that federal criminal fraud statutes are overly broad, Cain says even the most well-intentioned company or employee is susceptible to a criminal investigation, making it imperative that every company has a legal defense plan formulated.

“It’s common for the HR departments of companies without in-house legal departments to have to deal with subpoenas and other government requests for information,” notes Cain. “In that instance, the true value of the HR department will be putting into action a response that should include proper legal representation.”

The roundtables, which were held in Dallas on May 7 and in Fort Worth on May 8, were sponsored by the law firm of Bracewell & Patterson.

“Even if an investigation takes you completely by surprise, the company needs to know what to do,” she adds. “It’s like emergency-preparedness planning. You will hopefully never need to implement the plan, but you want to have one ready.”

In the case of criminal investigations, the first step should be to involve a criminal defense attorney, Cain says.

Too often the company thinks they can clear up any misunderstanding on their own, but end up exacerbating the problem, she says. One of the most common methods of collecting evidence is through use of search warrants served to businesses. Should one be served, Cain says the immediate response should be to bring in an attorney to oversee the search in person.

“It is rare that a fraud investigation will be resolved without professional legal assistance,” she says. “It is not impossible, but the risks to the company are tremendous.”

Devoted exclusively to complex criminal defense litigation, Mills & Williams L.L.P. is a law firm focused on helping its clients navigate the criminal justice system. The firm’s website can be found at www.millsandwilliams.com.