Anonymous User wrote:RaceJudicata wrote:objctnyrhnr wrote:ThisLawyerLife wrote:There's lots of variety by firm but at many biglaw firms, white collar work is focused on investigations, so there are similarities to civil lit - lots of doc review and witness prep. Except you dive into the substance faster in an investigation. If your client gets a subpoena, you immediately set up interviews, start collecting data, reach out to the regulator to talk scope, etc. It's a nice break from all the procedural hurdles of litigation, and regulators are usually much nicer to deal with than opposing counsel.
To what extent are you briefing and arguing motions in white collar? I would imagine only after indictment, right? How often are clients indicted following subpoena?
Big law white collar (at least the vast majority of the time) is not going to be criminal defense work. Mostly civil penalties (sec, etc), internal investigations, and the like.
Can you talk a little bit about what an internal investigation consists of? What is the role of a junior associate in an internal investigation?
Let's say your client receives a subpoena from the DOJ. Client calls up the firm to represent them. As a super junior attorney, you're not going to be running things, but you should be involved enough to develop an understanding of how these things go. For example:
1.
Regulator calls: Partner will make calls to DOJ to ask for an extension, talk scope of subpoena (e.g., request 1 asks for "all documents regarding X," does DOJ really want ALL docs?). As the junior, you may sit in on these calls to take notes and draft memos to file or client emails summarizing afterward.
2.
Preliminary work with client: Lots of calls/emails with the client are needed to hold interviews to discuss subpoena requests, figure out what client has/does not have in response, figure out which employees may have responsive files, etc. Again, you will likely be on a lot of these calls and expected to keep track of what you learn.
3.
Document review: After custodians are identified above, work with internal ediscovery team or an outside vendor to collect docs, load docs, search docs, and review docs. At some firms, you will do lots of first-level doc review, meaning you are the first eyes on each document, marking responsive to subpoena or non-responsive to subpoena. At other firms, contract attorneys do that first review, so you will be doing a second-level review checking their work and/or reviewing only documents they tag as especially good or bad.
4.
Work stemming from doc review: As you identify big issues, key custodians, etc. in the documents, you need to put together outlines for witness interviews and chronologies of the key facts. You may need to do some legal research as issues crop up. As a junior, you're doing drafts of all this stuff, likely reviewed by a more senior team member. The team will likely set up calls and meetings with DOJ to present what you've found. You'll work on drafting the presentations and talking points.
5.
Interviews/Proffers: You will likely sit in on witness interviews and attend DOJ proffers, mainly to take notes and write up the memo afterward. But as the person deeply involved in all the facts, you should be prepared to assist the senior attorneys presenting by knowing the facts cold.
6.
Resolving matter: Depends on the regulator, but there is usually some kind of final presentation or paper to the regulator, arguing your client's position. The regulator and firm negotiate a settlement or other deal and close things out. All more opportunities for you to draft these docs and be in the room during negotiations.
I sound like a broken record, but again, this all depends on your firm. Staffing really varies. At some firms, the junior does all the scut work without the (relative) glory of actually sitting in on meetings b/c the firm does not want to crowd the room with lawyers.
When you interview, ask what the associates your level are working on in an investigation right now. That should be illuminating.