Eighteen months after acquiring a company, a client discovered that consumer inquiries about their products were being sent to the company’s former owners and their former counsel. Remarkably, the client discovered that not only were the former owners and former counsel not forwarding these inquiries to them, but that, in certain instances, former counsel was responding to regulators without authorization on behalf of the company and its former management.

Civil investigative demands and cease & desist letters had been ignored. Numerous consumer inquiries went unanswered. Without warning, the new company was sitting on hundreds of aged regulatory demands and threats of investigation.

Utilizing two decades of experience with high-profile, bet-the-company investigations, Simes Law P.C. and the new company’s C-Suite raced into action with a rapid-response, cross-country outreach to more than two dozen state regulatory agencies. A dedicated email site was created within hours for regulators to forward new and old inquiries. Within days, regulators across the country knew of the company’s new management, new counsel, and new commitment to working with – rather than against – the regulators.

In less than a month, the company turned the tide with little more than a thoughtful and intentional decision to fix the problems, mend the fences, and move forward.

I was taught as a baby lawyer that, when faced with regulatory investigations, the single most important step a company and its counsel can take is to own the problem, grab the reins, make the regulator’s life and work a little easier, and turn the tide. That lesson is as valuable today as it was two decades ago. Depending on the nature and scope of the problem, this formula achieves different results. But the results are always and infinitely better than burying your head or digging your heels.