Not as magic bullets, but as helpful reference librarians.
Remember in middle school when you had to write a report about how many lobsters were caught in Maine each year? You went into the library
How Good Investigators Think about Search Engines
Latest from The Ethical Investigator
What You Won’t Read in Our Reports: “He Has No Criminal Record”
Clients who have seen the online “Nationwide criminal background check, $69” come-ons sometimes ask why we won’t ever say that someone has no criminal record.
They also wonder why doing a proper criminal check in even a single state costs
Issue Spotting in Investigation
Remember those law school exams that depended not as much on getting the right answer as on issue spotting? Usually you got a fact pattern and you had to look at all the ways those facts would present interesting legal
Saving Money on Due Diligence: Look at the People First, Not Last
You are the Chief Investment Officer screening possible targets for a $5 million investment in a non-public asset. Whether you work at a family office, a private equity fund or somewhere else, the prospective deal flow should be coming at
The Epstein Appointment Book Story: This is What Due Diligence Looks Like
For those of us who thought Jeffrey Epstein probably had a larger group of rich and powerful acquaintances than we had known about, the Wall Street Journal appears to have proven us right.
A story over the weekend says the
Cheating, Grade Inflation, AI – What Smart Job Screeners Need to Do Next
Hiring good people is getting a lot harder, and not just because there are fewer candidates in a lot of industries. With AI-enabled cheating, grade inflation, and the shunning of standardized tests by colleges and graduate schools, how is a
Can ChatGPT Help in an Investigation?
ChatGPT now comes up in most of the extended conversations I have with lawyers about how things are going. Many rave about how easy it is to have this robot whip up a simple motion or even, in one example,
Financial Investigators: Don’t Forget About Emotion
In a financial investigation it’s easy to get buried under all the words and numbers and to forget about emotions – those of your client, the person you’re investigating, and your own.
It’s understandable but something to guard against.
Against Undue Credentialism
Is it in poor taste to argue against leaning too hard on credentials when you post something on LinkedIn, a platform where people showcase their credentials for all to see? I don’t think so.
If you want a lawyer who
Who Is NOT a Good Referral for Our Firm? Lawbreakers!
I’m asked all the time when I meet other professionals, “Who’s a good referral for you?”
I usually answer, “Litigators are good – if you want to see if it’s worth suing, or you want to look into the people