Lawyers are not acrobats. But the series of balancing acts internal investigations require is unique even among legal professionals. True, the search for the truth (or, at least, an approximation thereof) is usually the most immediate goal of any internal investigation. But that observation offers little more than spotting the pig in the python. In the complicated real world occupied by today’s companies, the search for the truth finds itself in constant tension with other important, and often outcome-determinative, considerations. And this pressure is felt by all involved from the day the investigation is launched.

As practitioners whose daily job it is to investigate allegations of wrongdoing of all types (bribery, fraud, breach of fiduciary duties, theft, hostile work environment, cybercrime, sexual harassment, etc.), your presenters Chelsea Curfman and Markus Funk have learned most of their lessons while on the front lines. But their at-times hard-knocks experiences will be your gain. Our goal here is to mine their and the attendees’ collective experiences and discuss them candidly so that the participants will be better prepared to answer the most common questions when facing the tricky task of investigating claims that an employee—and, not infrequently, someone at or near the top of the company— may have engaged in wrongdoing.