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Business Crimes BulletinFeaturesCriminal LawLitigationWhite Collar Crime

How to Respond to a Search Warrant

By Marjorie Peerce and Mark S. Kokanovich
June 01, 2019

Imagine you are in-house counsel, working on a transactional document, when you receive a breathless call from a manager at one of your warehouses that a search warrant is being executed on the premises. What do you do?

When in-house counsel learns that a search warrant is being executed at one of the company's offices, factories, warehouses and/or other facilities, it is important to respond quickly and appropriately to what is obviously bad news. It is particularly bad news because, for the government to have obtained a search warrant, law enforcement has convinced a neutral magistrate or judge that probable cause exists to believe that a crime has been committed, and that a search is justified to locate evidence relating to the crime.

Obtaining a warrant is one of the ways for law enforcement to comply with the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. To be valid, a search warrant must be: 1) filed by law enforcement in good faith; 2) based on reliable information showing probable cause to search; 3) issued by a neutral magistrate; and 4) specific regarding the place to be searched and the items to be seized.

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