{"id":4794,"date":"2026-08-31T08:36:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T06:36:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/barbancho.legal\/areas\/internal-investigations\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T15:04:41","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T13:04:41","slug":"internal-investigations","status":"publish","type":"areas","link":"https:\/\/barbancho.legal\/en\/areas\/internal-investigations\/","title":{"rendered":"Internal investigations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How we conduct an internal investigation<\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We establish the facts with rigour and discretion: document and accounting review, digital evidence (emails, devices, metadata) with respect for employees\u2019 rights, and internal interviews with the necessary safeguards. We preserve evidence, assess the entity\u2019s and its directors\u2019 criminal risk, and define the next steps, including dealings with the Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office or regulators. <\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The key decision: what to do with the outcome<\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An investigation does not end with the report, but with a strategic decision: whether self-reporting is advisable, what internal measures to adopt, and how the finding ties into the compliance programme. Each decision is taken with how it will stand up in court in mind. <\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">International dimension<\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A cross-border dimension is common: a parent company or subsidiaries abroad, data hosted outside the country, conduct affecting multiple jurisdictions. We coordinate with counsel in the parent company\u2019s country, address international data transfers in the evidence, and work in English and German. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A company\u2019s criminal liability is decided at two moments. Beforehand, when prevention is advisable: a criminal compliance programme that prevents offences and demonstrates the organisation\u2019s diligence. And during, when there is already an indication and it is necessary to clarify what happened without increasing exposure. We approach both with the same logic\u2014the logic of litigation\u2014because we defend these cases in court and we know what a judge looks for.   <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4795,"parent":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-4794","areas","type-areas","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbancho.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/areas\/4794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbancho.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/areas"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbancho.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/areas"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/barbancho.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/areas\/4794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4796,"href":"https:\/\/barbancho.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/areas\/4794\/revisions\/4796"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbancho.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbancho.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}