The Deal Closes Tuesday. The CTO Resigns Friday With the Laptop.
Mergers and acquisitions create a forensic-evidence window unique in litigation: the moment when an organization's most strategic information is simultaneously most exposed and least monitored. Departing executives. Pre-close data movement. Post-close integration confusion. The forensic work we do in this window protects deal value, preserves IP, and creates the evidentiary record litigation later needs.
What the evidence record actually addresses.
Pre-Close Forensic Questions
- Are departing employees of the target moving data out before announcement?
- Did key personnel forward documents to personal accounts in the weeks before signing?
- Are there signs of accelerated USB activity, cloud uploads, or repository cloning?
- What does the target's executive device activity show in the 90 days prior to LOI?
At-Close & Post-Close Questions
- Did the CTO, GC, or key engineers preserve copies of strategic material as they exited?
- Was source code, customer data, or trade-secret material moved off enterprise systems around close?
- Are the data-room representations consistent with what's actually on the target's systems?
- Did anyone access systems outside their role or normal pattern in the immediate pre-close window?
Post-Transaction Investigations
- If integration reveals missing material, can we reconstruct what was taken, when, and by whom?
- What downstream litigation exposure exists from pre-close conduct?
- Did anyone leverage knowledge gained from the deal at a competing entity?
- What forensic record supports trade-secret or non-compete enforcement?
Tie-In to Litigation Readiness
- M&A creates litigation exposure. Acquired entities bring their own discovery posture, retention practices, and unfinished matters — all of which become the acquirer's problem post-close.
- Litigation Readiness work scoped around an M&A event addresses both pre-close diligence and post-close program integration.
- We commonly run M&A forensics alongside a parallel Litigation Readiness engagement covering the combined entity.
- See our Litigation Readiness practice for the broader framework.
The forensic work happens around the deal — without becoming the story.
M&A forensics is high-stakes for two reasons. First, time: the most valuable evidence is being created or destroyed in the days surrounding announcement, signing, and close. Second, discretion: a leak that Vanguard Discovery is being engaged could itself move markets, alter negotiating dynamics, or tip off the very subjects of the investigation.
We accept M&A engagements only through retained outside counsel or directly through in-house legal teams operating under privilege. Communications are routed and scoped accordingly. Acquisition or target identifiers are never discussed outside the engagement letter.