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On May 27, 2010, the New York County District Attorney’s Office (“DANY”) issued written guidelines for determining whether to bring criminal charges against business organizations. The District Attorney’s guidelines identify a number of factors prosecutors must consider before deciding to charge or not to charge an organization for violating New York State criminal laws.

Most of the factors to be considered closely follow the principles used by the U.S. Department of Justice for prosecuting business organizations. There are, however, important distinctions between the two sets of principles. As summarized in the attached, the DANY corporate charging guidelines incorporate additional factors to be considered, including (i) whether a corporation complied with the District Attorney’s request to waive attorney-client privilege and work product protections; (ii) the potential impact of a charging decision on the public’s confidence in the fairness of prosecutors’ decisions; (iii) the views of victims of misconduct; and (iv) the feasibility of prosecuting responsible individuals.

Because the DANY Guidelines establish a uniform framework for criminal charges against organizations, and incorporate considerations not found in the analogous federal guidelines, companies doing business in New York County should familiarize themselves with these new provisions and consider whether to modify their business practices or compliance programs in light of the new guidelines.