The move came from the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the wake of a failed case against Lauren Stevens -- the former vice president and general counsel of GlaxoSmithKline.

Frustrating behaviour

According to the publication Inside Counsel, Robert Khuzami, director of the SEC’s enforcement division, spoke about the SEC’s irritation with those who engage in behaviour that ‘frustrates our investigations’.
He cited examples of ‘questionable’ behaviour such as: a single lawyer representing multiple parties with seemingly divergent interests in the same investigation; delays in the production of subpoenaed documents until the very last moment; witnesses who fail to recollect almost anything of substance when questioned by the SEC, despite being shown documents they reviewed and even signed and defence lawyers using a ‘foot-tapping’ strategy to influence witnesses during SEC interviews.

Not passive

The SEC, said Mr Khuzami, ‘cannot remain passive’ when confronted with what it perceives to be ‘questionable’ conduct that frustrates and delays its investigations.
Last week, the Association of Corporate Counsel launched a project to document the frequency with which in-house lawyers are targeted by prosecutors and regulators when their employers are trouble, following Ms Stevens’ claim last week that in-house lawyers had a ‘target on their back’.