Crisis Management

We routinely handle highly sensitive federal, state, local, and non-U.S. government investigations—including grand jury proceedings—and criminal and civil investigations conducted by nearly every law enforcement and regulatory agency in the United States, including the DOJ and U.S. Attorney’s Offices, the SEC, CFTC, CFPB, FTC, the Office of Inspector General, and other government authorities. With our deep understanding of government strategies and approaches, our lawyers manage the investigative process in a manner that puts our clients in the best position to assess potential exposure and present strong defenses, while promoting and protecting our clients’ multifaceted interests at all phases of a government investigation. We represent our clients, including organizations, board committees, management, and individuals, in connection with government investigations across myriad industries and involving various subject matters.

Our lawyers regularly conduct internal investigations for clients that have been alerted to potential wrongdoing, whether through internal-reporting mechanisms, reports of potential industry-wide issues, whistleblower or relator complaints, a government inquiry, or an audit. We appreciate the sensitivity of these matters and have a keen understanding of the significant business, legal, and regulatory ramifications. We capably strike the delicate balance between conducting a thorough, credible investigation and utilizing an efficient, cost-effective approach.

Congressional investigations and oversight are a unique world to themselves, as traditional rules and strategy may not apply when Congress is looking into an entire industry, general business practices, or a company or individual. Both the number of congressional committees conducting oversight inquiries, and the number of inquiries conducted by each committee, continue to grow. Winston’s team includes lawyers with significant experience handling congressional inquiries and know how to manage the investigative process from beginning to end to minimize adverse consequences, having represented clients in numerous congressional proceedings, and are uniquely qualified to guide clients through these proceedings.

We work with our clients to ensure that if, and when, they experience a security incident, they are prepared and ready to respond in a highly strategic and efficient manner. We help our clients develop and revise security incident response plans and pressure test their response procedures. This includes evaluating response vendors and working with cyber carriers to ensure that these vendors are accessible and fully prepared in the event of an incident. Our team also frequently provides executive-level tabletop exercises to help raise awareness of issues that may arise in the course of an incident response and hammer out potential strategies to be utilized during an actual response.

We have one of the most experienced and long-standing traditional labor teams, which handles the full range of high-profile and complex labor disputes. In addition, we regularly handle single-plaintiff employment litigation, unfair competition matters, counseling and compliance, and other day-to-day employment issues.

Our Environmental lawyers have extensive experience defending clients against agency and citizen enforcement of environmental laws. We also handle actions brought by the U.S. EPA and the DOJ, and we litigate against and negotiate with state and local agencies, citizen groups, and private parties across the country.

Our Product Liability & Mass Torts Practice is one of the industry’s most seasoned, with a deep bench of experienced lawyers and a unique combination of extensive trial experience and expansive technical knowledge. With our decades of experience comes a deep understanding of scientific and technical issues in areas such as toxicology, epidemiology, genetics, medical causation, and quantitative and comparative risk assessment.

Our lawyers help to identify and quantify roadblocks and risks at an early stage, so that we can help our clients evaluate and, to the extent possible, mitigate or eliminate risk.