Independent Investigations

Charges of wrongdoing may emanate from the corporation's own auditing activities, a routine inspection by a government agency, or a "whistleblower" within the organization. Whatever the source of the accusations, top management and the board needs to learn the facts regarding the matter completely and accurately. The ability to make critical management decisions, to maintain shareholder and public confidence, to rebut false charges, and to respond to external investigations will depend on how well they are informed of the facts.

An independent investigation transforms the posture of the corporation from a defensive one -- fending off allegations and speculation -- to an aggressive one uncovering the truth and taking prompt action on the merits of the matter in question. This produces a number of benefits for the corporation such as strengthening management control, assuring uniform responses to information requests, creating an accurate record for regulatory review, and establishing public credibility.

The firm's emphasis on special counsel investigations began in 1983 when Edwin H. Stier was retained by GPU Nuclear Corporation to conduct an investigation at its Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station. Given a mandate by the company to produce a thorough, impartial, and well-documented report, Mr. Stier supervised a team of attorneys and other support personnel in reviewing thousands of documents and interviewing more than 100 witnesses. The resulting report included 10,000 pages of supporting documentation. It established a complete record that was relied upon by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to resolve the issues.

Based upon its record of reliability and thoroughness in the nuclear industry, Stier Anderson, LLC has also been retained by the United States Department of Energy to investigate allegations of misconduct at United States nuclear weapons production sites. Additionally, many other prominent organizations have recognized the benefits of retaining the firm to conduct independent investigations. For example, Stier Anderson, LLC has been retained in a variety of industries to investigate allegations such as procurement fraud, environmental conflicts of interests, misappropriation of corporate assets, regulatory violations, NCAA non-compliance, gender based or other discrimination and sexual harassment.

For an overview of the law relating to independent investigations, click here.

For more information about our sexual harassment investigations practice, please click here.

For more information about our NCAA Investigations practice , please click here.