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Employers and Employees

By Richard M. Cooper
January 26, 2006

When I entered law practice in 1971, it was common in corporate criminal investigations for a single law firm to represent the target corporation and all its relevant employees. They hung together lest they hang separately. Over time, practice changed, and such joint-representation arrangements mostly disappeared.

The old paradigm was succeeded by a new one, which recognized the separate interests of the corporation and each of its relevant employees, but also provided a large measure of mutual support and good will on the defense side. It commonly operated as follows.

The corporation would help its employees find separate lawyers, and it would advance their fees and expenses. The corporation and its employees would enter into a joint defense agreement, under which, through networking by counsel, there would be a broad sharing of information between the corporation and its employees, and among the employees themselves. The agreement would preclude disclosure to the prosecutors of any shared information that was privileged. If valued employees had to be put on leave, the leave would be with pay. Eventually, if a corporate crime were found, the corporation would plead guilty. In negotiating the plea agreement, it would do its best to secure non-prosecution of its employees. Each employee would be free to pursue his or her own interest, and in doing so would have the benefit of all the help provided by the corporation.

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