When company counsel interviews an employee during an internal investigation, the employee often assumes counsel is also their lawyer. They are not, and the consequences of that misunderstanding fall on everyone.
The corrective is a short statement, given at the start of every interview: counsel represents the company and not the individual; the conversation is covered by the company’s privilege; the privilege belongs to the company; the company may choose to waive it and disclose what is said, including to the government; and the employee should keep the conversation confidential.
Three practical points. Give it properly. Delivered quickly as boilerplate, it does not land, and an employee who later says they thought counsel was acting for them creates a genuine dispute about the interview’s status. Confirm it. Note in the record that it was given and that the employee said they understood. Watch for divergence. Where the employee’s interests plainly conflict with the company’s, the right answer is often to pause and tell them they may wish to obtain their own counsel — which slows the investigation and protects its results.
An interview conducted without the warning is not necessarily unusable, but it becomes an argument, and arguments about process undermine findings about substance.