A Plan of Action
GC surveyed top in-house counsel around the world to understand how businesses prepare for white collar and general investigatory risk, revealing little uniformity across companies and jurisdictions alike.
At a time of increasing regulatory scrutiny in virtually all corners of business, and with the stakes having never been higher, now is the time for companies to get their house in order in terms of their compliance and investigatory response regimes. Our survey of top in-house counsel from across the globe revealed great disparities between organisations, not just in terms of how they plan for a potential investigation or prosecution, but also in terms of how high a priority such an endeavour is, and who within the business is best placed to take ownership of it.
But while most businesses – and certainly nearly every lawyer – would recognise the risk of inadequate preparation in this area, whether this recognition had translated into action is another story. Just 57% of respondents in our White Collar Investigations Survey reported that their organisation had implemented a response plan for regulatory investigations or white collar prosecutions. 39% reported that their organisation has no such plan.
