Ogier guide to dealing with a dawn raid

Dealing with a dawn raid can be daunting and time consuming for a business. In order to prepare for this Ogier’s experts in dispute resolution have produced this helpful guide to dealing with dawn raids.

Arrival of inspectors

• Alert your company’s dawn-raid coordinator immediately

• Invite the inspectors to wait in a separate area pending the coordinator’s arrival

• Confirm to inspectors that a coordinator is on route

• Comply: Do not obstruct the inspectors, if the inspectors insist on entering. Obstruction is a serious offence

• Co-operate with the inspectors at all times

Office searches

Do not:

• obstruct searches

• interfere or delete documents

• deny access to devices or phones

Do:

• shadow inspectors

• take detailed notes

• copy or photograph documents which are reviewed or seized

Arrival of co-ordinator

• Contact Ogier immediately (see contacts at the end of this guide)
• Provide the following details to your Ogier contact:
  • location
  • the regulatory body
  • whether Gardaí are present
  • photos of inspectors’ documentation
  • photos of the warrant
• Read the inspectors’ documentation to ensure the details are correct and identify the subject-matter and / or purpose of the inspection
• Alert Ogier to any issues you identify in the documents
• Ask each investigator to confirm their identity and to provide ID documents for you to take a photocopy
• State any objections to the inspectors’ documentation, but do not obstruct
• Record objections made to the inspectors
• Set up separate meeting rooms for the inspectors and for the business / Ogier

IT / document management

• Provide assistance – your IT team should assist with the inspectors’ IT requests

• Take a copy – ensure that a copy is made of all digital records that are taken by the inspectors

• Ensure any documents that the business is claiming privacy over are kept separate from other electronic documents for resolution later

Privileged documentation

• Do not hand over privileged documents

• Do not dispute / obstruct – if there is a disagreement about privilege / relevance of documents, do not obstruct but record the complaint

• Request privileged documents are stored separately – ask for the privileged documents to be put in a sealed envelope for resolution later

Employee interviews

• Wait for interviews to answer inspector's questions (do not answer unless in a formal interview setting)

• Request legal representation

• Seek clarification if questions are unclear

• Do not refuse to answer

• Take detailed notes of the interview

Post inspection

• Confirm the search is complete
• Do not tamper with or remove seal
• Ensure you have an exact replica copy of all the data / documents seized / copied
• Ask the investigators to sign a record of materials taken
• Debrief:
  • with the officials (to confirm they are satisfied with the business's co-operation)
  • with facilitators and staff (to discuss next steps)
• Store copies of all documents which have been inspected, copied or retained by inspectors

I am experiencing a dawn raid – what should I do?

If your business is undergoing a dawn raid in one of our six key legal jurisdictions, get in touch immediately with a member of our global response team below, depending on where your office is based. A member of our team will be ready to assist you.