Volume 8: Issue 1
The McNulty Memorandum: Recent Modifications to Federal Prosecutorial Policy Regarding Corporations
On December 12, 2006, the Department of Justice (“Department”) announced changes to its corporate prosecution policies in a memorandum issued by Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty. The new policy replaces and effects a number of changes to the “Principles of Federal Prosecution of Business Organizations,” set forth in earlier memoranda issued by McNulty’s predecessors, notably the “Thompson Memo” of January 2003. The most significant changes are in two areas: rules for prosecutors seeking waivers of the attorney-client privilege or production of attorney work product, and prosecutors’ considerations in assessing corporate cooperation where a company pays its officers’ or employees’ legal fees in connection with an investigation....