Investigations and Inquiries

Overview

Appearing before a royal commission or an anti-corruption commission is unlike any court proceeding. The procedures are unique, the powers are coercive (it is an offence not to attend, and you cannot refuse to answer on the grounds of self-incrimination), and what you say can follow you into later proceedings. Preparation is everything.

We prepare and appear for witnesses and organisations before these bodies, manage document production, and advise on the downstream use of evidence. We have appeared in this work at the highest profile inquiries in the country.

For organisations, we conduct internal investigations directed by lawyers, structured so that findings are reliable and, where the law allows, privileged, including investigations under Victoria’s public interest disclosure and local government frameworks.

Our work includes

• royal commissions and parliamentary inquiries: witnesses, document production, submissions;
• anti-corruption commissions, including IBAC, the NACC and their state counterparts (summonses, private and public examinations, confidentiality notices);
• regulator investigations: ASIC, ACCC, AUSTRAC, ATO, AFP and other statutory regulators;
• lawyer-directed internal investigations, including public interest disclosure (whistleblower) matters;
• misconduct investigations for local government.