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TEN THINGS: WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR COMPANY IS THE SUBJECT OF A GOVERNMENT INVESTIGATION. I’ve been around a while and I know from first-hand experience that there is little more disconcerting to an in-house lawyer than being contacted by the government when it starts investigating your company.  It makes your stomach feel like The Hulk has reached down your th*oat to give your intestines a good squeeze.  What happens in such an investigation, in large part, depends on what’s being investigated and on how you respond. You will know the seriousness of the circu*stances fairly quickly, depending on what tools the government uses for its initial contact with your company. Regardless of how it starts, there are many things common to any company’s response to a government investigation. There are several initial questions to ask when a government investigation into your company is launched.  This edition of “Ten Things” explores what to do when the government comes knocking on your door: After “will I go to jail for that?” the most common question asked of in-house counsel typically involves commercial contracts and whether “it’s okay for us to sign this?”  There are multiple parts to this seemingly simple ask, but the core of the question has to do with risk.  More specifically, if we sign this contract are we taking on an unacceptable level of risk?  Risk too is subject to multiple meanings.  Are we talking about commercial risk, legal risk, financial risk, reputational risk, or what?  Regarding the many facets of the question, it’s typically the in-house lawyer’s job to come up with the answer.  Unfair or not, because lawyers are in commercial agreements and the process of minimizing that risk usually falls in the lap of the in-house legal department.  Unfortunately, the process of spotting and an*lyzing risk is rarely black and white.  It’s generally highly subjective and it’s not always right.  Over the course of many years, I have learned about – or come up with – a number of ways to minimize risk in