Transparency Report

Each Transparency Report should clearly identify the period it covers and the date on which the information was compiled.

Where figures are subsequently corrected or materially revised, the updated version should identify that change. LegalEvidence should not knowingly present historical statistics as current figures or combine reporting periods in a manner that creates a misleading impression of activity.

LegalEvidence should disclose aggregate information concerning the records published during the reporting period.

The report may include the number of Dossiers, Investigations and Reports published, together with the number materially updated, corrected, restricted or withdrawn. Where appropriate, LegalEvidence may also report the jurisdictions and general subject areas represented in its published work.

These figures describe publishing activity only. They should not be presented as a measure of guilt, wrongdoing or enforcement activity among the subjects concerned.

LegalEvidence may report aggregate information concerning the evidence supporting its published work, including the number of sources reviewed or cited and the general categories of material relied upon.

Those categories may include court records, regulatory decisions, government records, corporate filings, interviews, documentary submissions and other verified material.

The publication of aggregate source statistics does not require LegalEvidence to disclose confidential sources, unpublished evidence, privileged communications or information subject to legal restriction.

LegalEvidence should report, in aggregate, how often subjects were approached for comment in connection with material adverse reporting and how frequently substantive responses were received.

A subject’s decision not to respond must not be characterised as an admission, evidence of wrongdoing or confirmation of the matters put to them.

Where publication occurred without a pre-publication approach because circumstances made such an approach inappropriate, unsafe, legally restricted or impracticable, LegalEvidence is not required to compromise those considerations merely to improve a transparency statistic.

The Transparency Report should disclose the number of correction and amendment requests received during the reporting period and, where reasonably practicable, their general disposition.

Categories may include requests resulting in a material correction, clarification, update, evidentiary reclassification, restriction, removal or no substantive change.

LegalEvidence should distinguish between a correction of an error and an update caused by a later development. A report that was accurate when published is not necessarily erroneous because subsequent proceedings changed the position.

LegalEvidence should disclose aggregate information concerning requests to remove or suppress published material.

Where possible, the report may distinguish requests based on alleged factual error, privacy or data-protection grounds, legal proceedings, court orders, mistaken identity, subsequent developments and requests based primarily on reputational concerns.

No disclosure should reveal confidential legal communications or prejudice ongoing proceedings.

LegalEvidence does not accept payment, gifts, favors or other consideration in exchange for removing, suppressing, delaying, softening or materially altering accurate reporting.

Where credible attempts to purchase or improperly influence an editorial outcome are received, LegalEvidence may record them internally and, where legally appropriate, disclose aggregate information about such attempts in its Transparency Report.

Care should be taken not to characterise a legitimate correction request, settlement proposal or communication from legal counsel as bribery or improper influence without an adequate factual and legal basis.

LegalEvidence may receive cease-and-desist letters, demands for correction, data-protection requests, court orders, subpoenas or other formal legal communications.

The Transparency Report may disclose aggregate numbers and broad categories of such demands where doing so is lawful and does not prejudice legal proceedings, privilege, confidentiality or the rights of affected parties.

Equally, LegalEvidence does not reject a demand merely because it was made by a subject or their counsel. Each matter is considered on its legal and evidentiary merits.

LegalEvidence may receive revenue from Research Membership and access to professional research services, including LE Intelligence System (LEIS).

A Research Member receives no contractual or editorial right to require the removal of a record, alter an evidentiary classification, prevent publication, obtain favourable reporting or secure a correction unsupported by evidence.

The Transparency Report may disclose aggregate membership information and membership revenue where LegalEvidence determines that doing so materially assists public understanding of its funding model.

LegalEvidence should identify the principal categories through which its operations are financed, subject to legitimate confidentiality and legal obligations.

Where a donor, investor, member, sponsor, commercial partner or other financial relationship creates a material conflict concerning a particular investigation, the matter should be addressed under the Conflict Register and applicable internal procedures.

No financial relationship should be concealed where its omission would create a materially misleading impression of LegalEvidence’s independence concerning published reporting.

Material organisational conflicts identified during the reporting period should be handled under the LegalEvidence Conflict Register.

The Transparency Report may provide aggregate information concerning conflicts identified, recusals made and other safeguards applied, without unnecessarily disclosing private or confidential information.

The existence of a conflict does not automatically invalidate reporting.

Because Research Members may submit evidence and request review of existing records, LegalEvidence should be transparent about the separation between membership services and editorial outcomes.

The Transparency Report may disclose the number of record-review requests submitted by members and the number resulting in correction, amendment or no substantive change.

This provides an auditable means of demonstrating that payment does not guarantee a favourable editorial result.

Where LEIS or other restricted systems are made available to approved government, law-enforcement or legal professionals, LegalEvidence may publish aggregate information concerning approved institutional access where lawful and operationally appropriate.

LegalEvidence should not disclose information that would identify confidential investigations, compromise operational security, reveal protected research or interfere with lawful government activity.

Access to LegalEvidence systems does not mean that LegalEvidence endorses a user’s investigation, conclusion or subsequent action.

The Transparency Report may describe, at an appropriate level, measures used to protect non-public evidence, confidential submissions and restricted research systems.

This may include role-based access, identity verification, access logging, internal permissions and other safeguards.

For security reasons, LegalEvidence should not publish technical details that could materially assist unauthorised access or compromise the integrity of its systems.

LegalEvidence may receive information from confidential sources and whistleblowers.

Nothing in the Transparency Report requires LegalEvidence to identify a protected source or publish information from which a source could reasonably be identified where disclosure would be unlawful, unsafe, inconsistent with an applicable undertaking or contrary to legitimate source-protection considerations.

Where legally permissible, LegalEvidence may disclose aggregate information concerning governmental, regulatory or law-enforcement requests for information received during the reporting period.

Whether LegalEvidence can disclose the existence or substance of a particular request will depend on applicable law, court orders, confidentiality obligations and the circumstances of the matter.

No commitment should be made to publish information that LegalEvidence is legally prohibited from disclosing.

Each report should carry a publication date and version number.

Where a material factual error is subsequently identified, the report should be corrected in accordance with the same principles LegalEvidence applies to its investigative reporting.

Material corrections should be identified where appropriate rather than silently rewritten.

LegalEvidence does not undertake to disclose confidential sources, privileged legal advice, protected personal information, unpublished investigative material, information subject to court restriction, security-sensitive information or material whose disclosure would create an unjustified risk to an individual.

LegalEvidence may also withhold information where disclosure would prejudice an active investigation, interfere with legal proceedings or violate an applicable legal obligation.

The omission of such material from a Transparency Report should not be interpreted as confirmation or denial that the material exists.

The annual disclosure table for the selected reporting period appears at the top of this report. Figures marked “Counted” are calculated from LegalEvidence’s records when the page loads; figures marked “Recorded” are entered by the editorial team; “Not recorded” means no figure has been entered, not zero.