Guide to conducting internal investigations: handling and preservation of evidence

The ‘Guide to conducting internal investigations’ sets out best practices and guidance for those conducting or overseeing investigations in both the United Kingdom and the United States. In this third of six instalments, Charles Hastie and Jake McQuitty explain how to handle and preserve evidence.

Charles Hastie leads the regulatory advisory function at Clutch Group. During previous employment at the Financial Conduct Authority, he was responsible for the supervision of a large investment bank and spent several years in the Enforcement Division managing a wide range of regulatory and criminal markets cases. Other experience includes being a senior internal auditor at hedge fund manager Man Group plc and a derivatives broker on a number of trading desks. Jake McQuitty is a partner at TLT Solicitors, where he leads the investigations and enforcement team. Previously, he was in-house legal counsel at a major global bank through most of the financial crisis and oversaw a significant portfolio of global investigations and enforcement matters. Jake originally qualified as a barrister where he honed many of his forensic skills, particularly the handling of difficult witnesses.

Identifying relevant evidence

Once you have addressed the immediate priority of protecting evidence at risk from intentional destruction by custodians (see part one in this series – ‘Immediate priorities’), then the next step will be to identify wider sources of potentially relevant evidence for preservation. Relevant material may be at risk due to a company’s existing document destruction policy, or material may be inadvertently destroyed.