Guide to conducting internal investigations: witness interviews

This is the fourth of six instalments serialising the ‘Guide to conducting internal investigations’, on best practices and guidance for those conducting or overseeing investigations in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Here, Jake McQuitty and Charles Hastie elucidate some of the key considerations when approaching and preparing for witness interviews.

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.

Witness interviews are an essential part of the evidence-gathering stage of most investigations. Consequently, great care needs to be taken to ensure these are done at a time and in a manner that is of most assistance to the investigative process. This involves giving sufficient time and thought at the earliest opportunity to determine key questions, such as: