Not a lawyer, but the “can’t explain your reasoning” problem is overblown. Just need to be very diligent in separating facts from the opinions and findings of the panel. There is a reason every report of that sort done professionally sounds the particular flavor of stilted that it does.
“Our panel found that <accused> did <thing>” ← potential lawsuit, hope you can prove that in court. You’re not a fact finder in a court of law, speak as if you are at your own peril.
“Our panel was convened to investigate <accusation> against <accused>. Based on <process>, we believe the accusation credible and recommend the following: …” ← A OK
“Our panel was convened to investigate <accusation> against <accused>. Based on <process>, we were unable to corroborate the accusation and cannot recommend action at this time.” ← A OK
“person X said Y, I did/didn’t believe them” is basically always fine, provided X actually said Y. Quoting someone else’s statement is well protected, and you’re entitled to your opinions. The trouble happens when your opinions/findings/beliefs are stated as facts about what happened instead of facts about what you believe and what evidence you found persuasive.
There’s also nothing stopping the panel from saying “we heard closed door testimony...”, describe the rough topic, speakers relation to the inquiry, and the degree to which it was persuasive.
There’s a more general concern here for running organizations where anyone can sue anyone at any time for any reason, merit or no. If one allows the barest hint of a lawsuit to dictate their actions, that too becomes another vector through which they can be manipulated. Perhaps a better thing to aim for is “don’t do anything egregious enough a lawyer will take it on contingency”, use additional caution if the potential adversary is much better resourced than you (and can afford sustained frivolous litigation).
Not a lawyer, but the “can’t explain your reasoning” problem is overblown. Just need to be very diligent in separating facts from the opinions and findings of the panel. There is a reason every report of that sort done professionally sounds the particular flavor of stilted that it does.
“Our panel found that <accused> did <thing>” ← potential lawsuit, hope you can prove that in court. You’re not a fact finder in a court of law, speak as if you are at your own peril.
“Our panel was convened to investigate <accusation> against <accused>. Based on <process>, we believe the accusation credible and recommend the following: …” ← A OK
“Our panel was convened to investigate <accusation> against <accused>. Based on <process>, we were unable to corroborate the accusation and cannot recommend action at this time.” ← A OK
“person X said Y, I did/didn’t believe them” is basically always fine, provided X actually said Y. Quoting someone else’s statement is well protected, and you’re entitled to your opinions. The trouble happens when your opinions/findings/beliefs are stated as facts about what happened instead of facts about what you believe and what evidence you found persuasive.
There’s also nothing stopping the panel from saying “we heard closed door testimony...”, describe the rough topic, speakers relation to the inquiry, and the degree to which it was persuasive.
There’s a more general concern here for running organizations where anyone can sue anyone at any time for any reason, merit or no. If one allows the barest hint of a lawsuit to dictate their actions, that too becomes another vector through which they can be manipulated. Perhaps a better thing to aim for is “don’t do anything egregious enough a lawyer will take it on contingency”, use additional caution if the potential adversary is much better resourced than you (and can afford sustained frivolous litigation).