To record or not to record? That was the question posed by Wednesday morning's Relativity Fest London panel "The Pros and Cons of Recording Corporate Investigations Interviews and Relativity Workflows." A virtually assembled panel explored the merits and risks inherent to a variety of workplace investigation scenarios, including remote interviews conducted in accordance with COVID-19 social distancing measures.

The major takeaway was that while recording interviews with parties involved in a corporate investigation can provide an extra layer of context and clarity unattainable from written notes alone, obtaining consent in the age of online conferencing platforms remains more critical than ever.

"Consent is obviously key here, and if they don't consent then I don't think you can go ahead with the interview being tape-recorded. I think you have to step back and take a note of it," said panelist Eve Giles, a partner at Allen & Overy.