Government and internal investigations
Nothing has been charged. This is the part that decides it.
A letter from a United States Attorney. Agents at your door. A grand jury subpoena for your records. A call from your licensing board, or from your employer's lawyer. No court date, no charge, and more at stake than at any later point. What you do in the next few days shapes everything that follows. You do not have to wait to be charged to have a lawyer. This is when one matters most.
Tonight
Five things that protect you right now.
Most of the damage in an investigation happens in the first conversation, before anyone has a lawyer. None of this is rude. All of it is your right.
- 01
Be polite, and ask for a lawyer.
You can decline to answer questions. Say it plainly: "I am getting a lawyer, and my lawyer will contact you." Take the card. Then stop talking. If agents have a warrant, let them execute it. You do not have to consent to anything beyond it.
- 02
Do not explain.
People try to clear things up and talk themselves into a case. Making a false statement to a federal agent is its own felony, punishable by up to five years, and an honest mistake under stress looks the same on paper as a lie.
- 03
Do not delete anything.
Texts, emails, files, photos, browser history. Once you know an investigation exists, destroying records is a separate crime, and it turns a defensible case into one that is not.
- 04
Do not talk to the people involved, and do not post about it.
Coworkers, business partners, the person who complained, and anyone online. Those conversations get repeated to investigators, and they become obstruction allegations. If you can read it, so can they.
- 05
Call before the interview, not after.
Once James represents you, agents and prosecutors contact him instead of you. He also confirms the people at your door are who they say they are, because a card with only a cell number on it is not proof of anything. You get a plan before you say a word.
What the letter means
Target, subject, or witness. The word matters.
Target
Federal prosecutors use this word for someone they have substantial evidence against and consider a likely defendant. A target letter usually invites you to testify or to talk through counsel before any charge. It is a window, and it closes.
Subject
Your conduct is within the scope of the investigation, but the government has not decided what you are. Subjects become targets, or they become witnesses, depending in part on what happens next.
Witness
The government believes you have information, not guilt. Witnesses still testify under oath, still face the false-statement law, and still sometimes find their status changing mid-investigation.
No letter does not mean no case. Prosecutors are encouraged, not required, to notify a target before seeking an indictment. If you have reason to think you are being looked at, do not wait for paper.
What James does
One lawyer between you and the investigation.
- 01
Pre-charge representation
He becomes the point of contact. He finds out what the government thinks it has, and he works to end it before a charge, or to shape what the charge is.
- 02
Grand jury subpoenas
For records and for testimony. Narrowing what you must produce, protecting privileged material, and deciding whether you testify at all.
- 03
Search warrants and seized property
What to do while agents are in the building, what they may take, and how to get phones, computers, and business records back.
- 04
Interviews and proffers
Whether to talk to investigators, when, and under what written protection. This decision is made once, and it is made with him in the room.
- 05
Licensing boards and employers
Nurses, doctors, teachers, officers, and other licensed professionals face two cases at once: the investigation and the license. He handles both tracks together so one does not sink the other.
- 06
Public employees and service members
Internal affairs, inspector general, and command investigations. Statements compelled under threat of losing your job carry protections most people do not know they have.
- 07
Internal investigations for small organizations
When something has gone wrong inside your company, practice, or nonprofit: a privileged, independent look at the facts, careful interviews, a clear written account, and honest advice on whether and how to report it.
- 08
Fraud and financial allegations
Pandemic-era program claims, public benefit and medical billing, contracts, and tax matters. The questions start as paperwork and end as federal cases. He steps in at the paperwork.
Who calls
People who never expected to need this page.
A patient or a coworker filed something. The board wants a written response in two weeks, and a bad one follows her career.
A clinic, a daycare, a contractor, a program provider. The government wants records, and the records are the case.
Human resources, an inspector general, or internal affairs. The company's lawyer is in the room, and that lawyer does not represent him.
Agents came early, took the devices, and left a receipt. Nobody has been arrested. Nobody knows what happens next.
A nonprofit or a small company that needs to know what happened before anyone else asks.
A Guard member or veteran whose unit opened an inquiry, with a civilian side that may follow. James has sat on the investigating side of those.
Why James for this
He has run investigations from the other side.
James Robbins has been a prosecutor, in civilian court and as a judge advocate in the Minnesota National Guard, where he advised commanders on what to investigate and how. He knows what investigators are looking for, how they build a file, and what makes them close one.
He has also been the defense in thousands of cases as a public defender and private counsel, and he has tried more than 25 jury trials. That matters here because the goal in an investigation is to make the trial unnecessary, and the lawyers who do that best are the ones the government knows will try the case if it comes to that.
You work with him directly. Not an associate, not an intake desk. The fee is flat for each stage, quoted before the work starts: the first response and assessment, the subpoena or interview, representation through the government's decision. No hourly surprises while you wait, and investigations involve a lot of waiting.
Quiet, steady, and early. That is how these end well.
- Former civilian and military prosecutor.
- Former public defender. 25+ jury trials.
- Minnesota and Wisconsin, state and federal court.
- Flat fee per stage. He answers his own phone.
Straight answers
The questions people ask first.
Should I just talk to the agents and clear this up?
If they had enough on me, wouldn't they just arrest me instead of asking questions?
I got a target letter. Am I about to be arrested?
Do I have to comply with a grand jury subpoena?
They took my phone and my laptop. When do I get them back?
My company is investigating me. Its lawyer wants to interview me. Do I need my own?
My licensing board sent a letter and wants a response in two weeks. What now?
How will I know when the investigation is over?
I am a police officer or public employee. What are my rights in an internal investigation?
What does it cost to have a lawyer during an investigation?
Start here
Before you answer anyone, talk to James.
The consultation is free, confidential, and privileged, whether or not you hire him. You will leave knowing what the letter means, what to do tonight, and what the next step costs.
651-808-0335