Lewis Silkin’s Anna Bond explains how her work in the investigations team takes her beyond legal advice and into the human stories behind workplace disputes
Ahead of Legal Cheek’s virtual student event, ‘Uncovering the facts: A look inside Lewis Silkin’s investigations practice’, we speak to employment lawyer Anna Bond about her role in the firm’s growing investigations team — a job that blends detective work, people skills, and plenty of real-world problem-solving.
“I always knew that I wanted to be an employment lawyer, from before I even started law school,” Bond says. She was drawn to its “brilliant mix of people issues and interesting bits of law”. Bond joined Lewis Silkin 10 years ago, and it wasn’t long after that she got involved in the investigations practice. She found the human element of the work especially rewarding: “I really enjoy the very human side of it — it’s really interesting to work that closely with the people involved”.
Asking Bond how investigations differ from the typical legal work, she explains this is “very different from a lot of the advice work that we do” because an investigation is open and the investigator is “responsible for coming to the conclusions” of the case, whereas legal advisers would normally just counsel the client on options. She also stresses that as an investigator, “I happen to be a lawyer, but I’m not here in my capacity as a lawyer. I’m here as an investigator”. The job is about gathering facts, not giving advice. They are finding out the evidence, “then coming to a conclusion about what happened, what didn’t happen, what findings can we make based on the evidence we’ve seen”.
What does the day-to-day life of an investigator look like? Bond walks us through a typical investigation. When an employee raises a grievance, Bond first looks through that complaint to identify its precise issues and break down what exactly is alleged. She creates a list of specific questions to answer, then plans her evidence collection. She will “meet with that person and hear from them, to make sure we understand what exactly are the concerns”. She’ll ask for concrete details: what words were said, on what dates, can they show the messages, and who else witnessed the incidents. She then interviews any relevant witnesses and reviews documentary evidence like emails or message logs to see if the timeline checks out. Only after gathering all evidence does she typically sit down with an alleged wrongdoer, explaining the allegations and showing any documents, to “give them an opportunity to present their side of the argument”.
In fact, investigations have grown into a hot practice area across the legal industry recently. Bond attributes this to both legal and societal shifts. She observes “more scrutiny now on organisations to get things right and to deal with problems”. New laws impose “increasingly stronger requirements on companies to prevent sexual harassment,” she notes, and campaigns like #MeToo or Black Lives Matter have encouraged employees to speak up. As a result, bosses increasingly want thorough fact-finding investigations to show they take complaints seriously. “When issues are raised, they’re dealt with properly and openly,” Bond says, adding that hiring an external investigator “is a really good way for an organisation to show they’ve taken it really seriously”.
Investigations also bring special challenges. Bond warns cases can “snowball” beyond their original scope: an investigation might start with one allegation, then spur “ten more issues” as you meet witnesses. Witness cooperation can be another headache. Some witnesses may feel too nervous or vulnerable to participate, while others might refuse to engage because they think the process is unfair. Bond has even dealt with anonymous tipsters — employees who report everything via lawyers, hotlines or anonymous email accounts. That leaves the investigator struggling: without knowing who made the complaint, “you can’t even verify whether they genuinely are part of the organisation”. The toughest part, Bond says, is “you will at some point have to assess whose evidence is more convincing”. She admits these decisions are heavy because “whatever decision you make will have a huge impact on the people involved — both the person who raised concerns and the person who is the alleged wrongdoer”.
Still, Bond finds investigations rewarding in ways that litigation or transactions rarely are. She says it is “really interesting to be super close to an issue”. Investigators get right into the nitty-gritty: “it is your job to make sure you know every single detail of it,” she explains, engaging with every witness and piece of evidence before stepping back to weigh it all up. Working “on the balance of probabilities” to decide what most likely happened is “a really interesting way to work” that she finds “really engaging”. She especially relishes the human puzzle: sometimes two people in an investigation both sincerely “think they’re telling the truth” about an incident, even though their accounts differ completely — a dynamic she calls “fascinating”.
Sometimes investigations touch on sensitive issues — and Bond explains that Lewis Silkin has put a lot of thought into looking out for its team’s wellbeing. She describes how she always offers colleagues the chance to step back if they feel an assignment might be too distressing. At the outset of an investigation, she tells any junior lawyer or note-taker: “It’s totally fine if you don’t think you’re the right person to help out, you have complete flexibility”. Interviews are never one-on-one: Bond always works with at least a note-taker in the room, and where possible she keeps the core team consistent throughout the inquiry. If anyone has a tough interview, they immediately check in with each other. The firm is also attentive to any interviewee’s welfare: if a witness looks unwell, they have an HR contact ready and may postpone the session. “We wouldn’t even go to the meeting if we thought they weren’t well enough,” she adds.
Additionally, Lewis Silkin’s reputation in investigations comes from its depth. Bond explains that the firm has “a really fantastic team” of lawyers who specialise in investigations. As many investigations involve employment claims, it helps that the majority of investigators at Lewis Silkin are also employment lawyers who already understand the relevant law. That legal background means the team can spot, for instance, how a supposed complaint of discrimination would be evaluated under the law, while conducting the fact-finding. In fact, since Lewis Silkin’s employment department is so large, the investigations team can tap specialists across finance, tech, charities or other sectors to share know-how. The result is “a really developed investigations practice,” built on wide experience.
Finally, what advice does Bond have for aspiring lawyers interested in investigations? It’s a bit like Marmite: “if you don’t like it, you really don’t like it — but if you do, you really love it.” The work demands a mix of qualities: “really good attention to detail, compassion, and strong people skills,” plus flexibility to “follow the evidence where it goes” as the scope evolves. Above all, investigators must be comfortable making tough calls when the answer isn’t clear: “sometimes it won’t be obvious what the conclusion is, and it’s your job to make that decision.”
Anna Bond will be speaking at ‘Uncovering the facts: A look inside Lewis Silkin’s investigations practice’, a virtual student event taking place TOMORROW (20 November). Apply now to attend.
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