botminds.aiBook a walkthrough
WorkflowInvestigations & White Collar

Investigation Interview Memo

Witness interview memo drafting that records the Upjohn warning word for word, cites each statement to the minute of the notes, and keeps counsel’s impressions apart.

Watch it workBook a walkthrough
Walk through the nine screens of one interview ↓
Watch with transcript →
The problem

Each interview is written up days later, from notes and memory

Outside counsel interviews a dozen witnesses in a week or two. The associate who took the notes drafts each memo over the following days, between preparing the next interviews, and by then nobody remembers which document was on the table or what the witness meant.

The warning often goes into the memo as a single line, which is thin if a witness later says he thought counsel was his lawyer. Contradictions with the documents and with other witnesses surface only when someone happens to reread an earlier memo, sometimes after the subject has already sat for his own interview.

Built forInvestigations counselInvestigations associatesPractice chairsPractice support teams

The Problem Today

Every witness interview must become a privileged memo that shows the warning was given, and the drafting lags for days.

25,000
whistleblower tips to the securities regulator in fiscal 2024 published
979
a record count of qui tam suits brought in fiscal 2024 published

Written up by hand today

  • Notes
  • Warnings
  • Exhibits
  • Memos
  • Memos days after the roomDrafted from typed notes once the next interviews are prepared
  • Contradictions found lateSpotted only when someone rereads an earlier memo

The Solution

  1. Warning first, word for wordQuestions stay locked until the warning’s time and answer are recorded
  2. Answers ticked as typedQuestions answered and exhibits shown are stamped as the notes arrive
  3. Memo cited to the minuteFirm format, with the lawyer’s own impressions marked and kept apart
  4. Contradictions side by sideStatements checked against the exhibits and other witnesses’ memos

Built-in controls

  • No memo signed without the recorded warning
  • Counsel’s impressions marked apart from the facts
  • Sharing beyond the team needs the practice chair

What You Get

The lawyer who led the interview signs a cited memo while the notes are fresh, and the next guide already holds the follow-ups.

<1 hour
of associate drafting per memo, down from about 5 our estimate
  • Drafted when the interview endsThe memo is ready for edits minutes after the witness leaves
  • Follow-ups ready for the next oneUnasked questions and conflicts become the next guide
  • One standard across the matterSame warning text and memo format for each witness
One interview, nine screens

How a witness interview memo goes from the plan to the signature

The interview plan first and the signature last, as the matter runs them, with the role each screen serves.

  1. 01Interview plan

    A plan board that staffs each interview and shows each memo’s status

    How it works

    • Each witness in order, with the lawyer leading, the note-taker and the memo status
    • Whether the witness brings personal counsel, noted before anyone enters the room
    • The issues the interviews must establish, each with the evidence so far
    • The next guide built from the matter’s issues, earlier memos and exhibits

    Practice chairStaffs twelve interviews in nine days and sees at a glance which memos are signed and who sits next.

  2. 02Documents to show

    An exhibit list with the reason each document is shown

    How it works

    • Bates number, date, the reason it is shown and the question it serves
    • Proposed by an agent, approved by the lawyer leading the interview
    • The minute each exhibit was shown, stamped as the notes come in
    • The hotline report stays off the table, with the reporter’s name masked

    Investigations counselWalks into the room with a binder in the order of the guide, and can show later which document the witness saw and when.

  3. 03Recording the warning

    Upjohn warning recorded word for word before the first question

    How it works

    • Firm text v3 read in full and stored exactly as written
    • The time it was given and the time it was acknowledged, both 10:02
    • The witness’s answer and counsel’s reply, each in their own words
    • The guide’s questions stay locked until this is saved

    Investigations associatePuts more than a one-line note in the file, so the privilege holds up if a witness later says he thought counsel was his lawyer.

  4. 04Interview guide

    A live guide that ticks each answer and each exhibit to the minute

    How it works

    • 24 questions in 6 topics, ticked as the note-taker types
    • Each exhibit shown carries its minute, from 10:06 to 10:45
    • 21 of 24 answered when the interview closed after 58 minutes
    • The 3 questions not reached are flagged and become follow-ups

    Investigations associateKeeps typing in the room while the guide keeps count, so no topic slips by and no exhibit goes unlogged.

  5. 05Notes, line by line

    Typed notes stamped to the minute, with each correction kept on file

    How it works

    • Each line carries its minute, its speaker, its question and any exhibit
    • 112 lines in all, with routine lines kept but not shown
    • A quote total of 99,520 corrected to 99,250, checked against D-07
    • The tracker adds nothing that was not typed

    Investigations associateFixes a misheard figure against the exhibit itself before the memo is drafted, instead of from memory later in the week.

  6. 06A cited paragraph

    A memo in the firm’s format, each paragraph cited to the minute of the notes

    How it works

    • Privilege header, attendees, the warning word for word, statements by topic
    • 41 of 41 paragraphs cited to the minute, 14 cites to exhibits
    • Click a minute to read the note line behind the paragraph
    • Drafted 8 minutes after the interview ended

    Investigations counselEdits a draft whose every paragraph traces back to what was typed in the room, and it reads as a summary rather than a transcript.

  7. 07Contradictions

    A contradiction check against the exhibits and the matter’s earlier memos

    How it works

    • Each statement shown with its minute, beside the record it conflicts with
    • Checked against 14 documents and 10 earlier memos in the matter
    • Four approvals under his login in 11 minutes, against his denial
    • Sources sit side by side for counsel to weigh, with no accusation

    Investigations counselSees the conflict with an earlier witness as soon as the interview ends, not whenever someone happens to reread that memo.

  8. 08Follow-ups

    Follow-up questions routed to the next interview once counsel approves

    How it works

    • Questions not reached and contradictions turned into follow-up questions
    • Each routed to the next interview, a re-interview or a document request
    • Counsel approves or drops each one, and a drop carries its reason
    • No question tells a witness what another witness said

    Investigations counselGoes into the subject’s interview with the gaps of earlier ones already in the guide, and no outline to rebuild.

  9. 09Signed memo

    A signature that stays shut until the warning and acknowledgment are in

    How it works

    • Seven checks before signing, each with the detail behind its tick
    • No signature without the recorded warning and the witness’s own words
    • The note-taker’s review of the notes is one of the seven
    • Signed on the day by the lawyer who led the interview

    Investigations counselSigns a six-page memo on the day of the interview, with the warning on the record and nothing carried into the following week.

Interview 11 of 12, from the warning to the signature on the same day

One procurement witness in a vendor-steering matter, as the solution held it.

StepWhenWhat the record holds
Warning given and acknowledged10:02Firm text v3, read in full; the witness asked whether he needed his own lawyer
Interview10:00 to 10:5858 minutes; 24 questions in 6 topics, 21 answered, 3 not reached
Exhibits shown10:06 to 10:4514, each with the minute it was shown
Notes10:00 to 10:58112 time-stamped lines, three corrected by the note-taker
Memo drafted8 minutes after6 pages in the firm format, 41 paragraphs cited to the minute
Contradictions and follow-upsWith the draft3 contradictions; 7 follow-ups, 4 of them for the subject’s interview
Notes reviewedBefore signingThe note-taker checks his notes before the signature
Memo signedSame dayBy the lawyer who led the interview, on the day
Around the interview

Six more screens around the witness interview memo

What the note-taker, the interviewing lawyer and the practice chair open beside the guide and the memo.

Locked until the warningBefore the warning, each question shows a lock and the only step on offer is to record it. The warning’s opening lines sit at the top of the guide.
Recording off for this matterNo audio by the firm’s default. The practice chair can allow recording or a transcript import for a matter, with the witness’s written consent.
The lines behind each contradictionThe notes filtered to the five lines tagged C1 to C3, each with its minute, its question and the exhibit on the table.
An exhibit at its Bates pageEach exhibit opens where it was read. Here, the delegation of authority: the plant approves orders to $25,000, and splitting a requirement to avoid a limit is prohibited.
Counsel’s impressions, kept apartSection 6 is labeled opinion work product and sits apart from the statements. Here it flags a shared-login claim no other witness has raised.
Each memo in the matter, in one indexEleven interviews held with the warning recorded on text v3, eleven memos signed on the day, and the subject’s interview still to come.

What one procurement witness said, against what the records show

Four finds from one interview, each checked against the exhibits and the matter’s earlier memos before the subject sat down.

Approvals he says he never gave

He said he never approved splitting an order. The approval log shows four orders approved under his login between 14:02 and 14:13, $99,250 in all, each under the $25,000 plant limit.

A limit he denies ever discussing

He said he never talked to accounts payable about approval limits. The memo of an earlier interview records him telling the accounts payable specialist to keep the vendor under twenty-five.

An early-summer visit the log puts in March

He placed the vendor owner’s first plant visit in early summer. The visitor log and the plant manager’s assistant both put it in March, with the plant manager as host. Shown the log, he did not recall it.

A shared login nobody else has mentioned

Shown the log, he said the plant manager may have used his login, held from a period of leave. Counsel’s impressions mark it as new and to be tested against the workstation records.

The interviewing lawyer signs, and only the practice chair shares

Agents draft, tick and compare; these decisions belong to counsel and the practice chair.

Signing the memoOnly the lawyer who led the interview signs, and the signature waits for the recorded warning and acknowledgment.
Sharing a memo outside the teamA memo, or a summary of one, goes beyond its reading list only with the practice chair’s approval, and each read is logged.
Which follow-ups get askedCounsel approves or drops each proposed question, and a dropped one carries its reason on the record.
Speaking to anyone outside the firmAgents never contact a witness, the client’s business people or a regulator.
Recording an interviewRecording is allowed matter by matter, by the practice chair, with the witness’s written consent.

Privilege, warnings and recording, before the first witness sits down

What is a witness interview memo?

A witness interview memo is counsel’s privileged written account of what a witness said in an internal investigation. This solution drafts it in the firm’s format from the time-stamped notes, with the Upjohn warning recorded word for word, each paragraph cited to the minute and counsel’s impressions marked apart. The lawyer who led the interview signs it.

What is an Upjohn warning, and how is it recorded here?

It tells the employee that counsel represents the company alone and that the privilege belongs to the company, which may waive it. The note-taker records the firm’s text as read, the time it was given and the witness’s answer in his own words, and the guide stays locked until that is saved.

How does the interview memorandum stay protected as work product?

It summarizes rather than transcribes, carries the privilege header, and keeps counsel’s mental impressions in a marked section of their own. A reading list controls who may open it, sharing beyond that list needs the practice chair, and each read is logged.

Can the interview be recorded or transcribed?

Recording is off under the firm’s default setting. The practice chair can allow it for a matter with the witness’s written consent, and a transcript can then be imported in place of typed notes.

How are contradictions between witnesses found?

Once the interview ends, each statement is compared with the exhibits shown and with the earlier memos in the same matter. Each conflict is set beside its source for counsel to weigh. Nothing is read across matters, and no witness is accused.

Does a witness learn what another witness said?

No. The guide builder writes no question that tells a witness what another said, and the hotline report is kept from witnesses, with the reporter’s name masked.

Investigations & White Collar

More solutions for investigations and white collar teams

All 7 solutions →
Anti-Corruption Transaction Testing

Every transaction tested and every hit cited, so the improper payments are found before the regulator does.

1-min filmCivil Investigative Demand Response

Meet every return date with a record of what was produced and why, with each specification worked as currently agreed.

1-min filmOFAC Voluntary Self-Disclosure

A complete lookback, and a disclosure that halves the base penalty, priced before anyone decides.

1-min film

The warning on the record,
each statement cited to its minute.

Send us the notes of an interview your team has already written up, and we will run them through the warning, the cited memo and the contradiction check.

Book a walkthroughBrowse solutions