Congressional Investigations

Akin has a formidable team and a singular approach to help our clients respond to the challenges they face when confronted with a congressional, executive commission or other special governmental investigation.

Raphael A. Prober and Karen Elizabeth Christian serve as co-heads of Akin’s congressional investigations practice. Rafi previously served as an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice in the Obama Administration. He was responsible for the Department’s handling of congressional oversight and investigations. Karen previously served as the Republican Chief Counsel of the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, then as General Counsel of the full Committee. She was responsible for overseeing some of the most high-profile, complex congressional investigations of the past decade.

Our congressional investigations team—networked with Akin lawyers from a powerful combination of practices, including white collar defense, litigation, public law and policy and others—provides our clients with the qualifications and experience necessary to navigate the congressional investigations process and to avoid the legal, business and political pitfalls with which such proceedings are replete. We have deep and broad experience representing clients from virtually every sector of the economy before a broad range of House and Senate committees.

The legal proceedings involved in congressional investigations are distinct from those in any other forum, and our lawyers are experienced in managing those proceedings to protect our clients’ legal interests, both with respect to the congressional proceedings and to those in other judicial and regulatory venues.

The ramifications of congressional hearings and investigations often extend beyond a company’s legal standing to threaten its reputation in a way that can seriously harm its brand or negatively impact investor confidence. The guidance we provide to our clients is informed by our understanding of the congressional motivation for, and objectives of, the investigation and the spectrum of risk that the investigation may pose for our client.

Congress often uses the investigatory process as a precursor to legislative action. As one of Washington’s pre-eminent public policy advocacy firms, we are practiced and proficient in affecting the legislative process to our clients’ benefit. Our experience stems from decades of representing clients’ interests irrespective of the political party in power.

For over the last two decades, we have handled hundreds of high profile congressional investigations spanning virtually every industry sector and before all active investigatory committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate. These representations have typically included intensive document review/production, witness interviews and/or depositions, and in many circumstances senior executive testimony at public hearings.