Columbo Deol LLP represents organizations and professionals in government investigations and, whether targets or witnesses, defends them in criminal, civil, and regulatory enforcement actions.

Our government investigations and enforcement defense practice, led by attorney Michael Columbo, serves clients throughout California and nationwide. Our clients include businesses or professionals in technology, agriculture, manufacturing, media, and other regulated industries, as well as government officials and organizations engaged in public affairs. We help them make the best decisions at critical junctures and protect their interests throughout the legal process.

Government Investigation and Enforcement Defense from a Former Prosecutor and Regulatory Enforcement Attorney

A government subpoena, civil investigative demand, audit notice, or the initiation of an agency enforcement matter requires a rapid sequence of judgment calls made under pressure, often with incomplete information, by people who are professionally accountable for the outcome.

Most businesses facing government scrutiny do not have a clear picture of the challenges they are confronting. They may find it hard to discern the agency’s actual objectives, what leverage the agency has (or if it is bluffing), what a realistic resolution looks like, and how to reach that resolution. Understanding the government’s goals, and the cards an agency holds, is critical to developing an effective approach to an investigation or an enforcement defense strategy.

That knowledge cannot be retrieved from a treatise, but it can be earned by being on the other side of these proceedings, participating in how enforcement decisions get made, and representing clients across the country in diverse investigations and enforcement proceedings.

Michael Columbo worked as an Assistant United States Attorney for almost five years, prosecuting crime in Washington, D.C. He conducted internal investigations and represented top corporations as a white collar defense attorney at a large law firm, and spent nearly a decade at the Federal Election Commission, first as an enforcement attorney and then as counsel to a commissioner supervising agency enforcement actions. In his private practice, he has spent years representing numerous clients in state and federal investigations and enforcement actions. With the insight and knowledge he developed in those roles, we can interpret our clients’ situations, assess the available options, and move forward strategically rather than reactively.

Comprehensive Response to Investigations and Enforcement Actions

In California and beyond, we represent businesses and executives targeted by state and federal government investigations and enforcement actions. Our work begins the moment a client receives notice of a pending government matter and continues through the resolution of the legal process. Our response includes:

• Moving immediately to assess the scope of the inquiry and identify actual exposure
• Conducting sensitive internal company investigations
• Developing a response strategy calibrated to real risk, not worst-case assumptions
• Engaging with the media, often in collaboration with professional media consultants
• Negotiating resolutions that protect the business and allow operations to continue
• Challenging government authority where the agency has overreached or acted unlawfully

What Makes Our Government Investigations Practice Different

Advice is only as valuable as the judgment behind it. When the government is on the other side of a matter, the quality of that judgment depends on understanding something that goes beyond legal doctrine: insight into how enforcement attorneys think, what agencies are trying to accomplish, which arguments move people and which ones are technically correct but strategically counterproductive.

The agencies across the table from your business are staffed by experienced professionals who have made hundreds of decisions like the one they are making about your case. They are often salaried civil servants with access to resources that are effectively unlimited. Typically, they are convinced they are serving a righteous cause and view you or your business with suspicion.

Counsel who have only ever seen this process from the outside are working with an incomplete picture. Litigation instincts built on commercial disputes governed by rational business decisions can produce reactive strategies that will backfire.

Columbo Deol LLP recognizes that a government investigation can distract leadership and block decisions before the business’s exposure is fully understood. In the meantime, employees, partners, and stakeholders are watching. In these difficult situations, uncertainty can be paralyzing, but clarity is galvanizing. We move quickly to give you an accurate picture of where you stand and empower you to make productive decisions.