Jessica K. Nall

Partner at Farella Braun + Martel LLP in San Francisco

She is leader of its White Collar Crime and Corporate Investigations practice.

My Articles

Rethinking Independence in Internal Investigations

For a company facing allegations of internal misconduct, whether from government regulators or prosecutors, whistleblowers, or the plaintiffs’ bar, an independent internal investigation performed by outside counsel may be an obvious next step. Often in these scenarios, outside counsel’s “independence” is conflated with “absolutely no prior work done for the subject company.” Indeed, some companies and boards categorically refuse to hire outside counsel to handle internal investigations if the firm has previously performed work for the company, out of concern that the government will assume such counsel cannot conduct an “independent” investigation.