THE INTERMOUNTAIN PI | EP 10 | DEC 11, 2018

8 WAYS PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS HELP LEGAL PROFESSIONALS  Being a private investigator is all about helping people and finding information.  Today, I want to take a look at 8 ways private investigators help legal professionals.  I’m talking specifically about providing assistance to attorneys and paralegals.  Obviously, private investigators offer more than 8 services to legal professionals.  But, these  8  are a good start.

1. LOCATE PEOPLE  

First, legal professionals often hire private investigators to locate missing persons.  This includes heirs and witnesses; even hard-to-find witnesses. We can also skip trace.  Skip tracing involves trying to locate someone who has skipped out to avoid a debt, judgment or service of process.  To do this, private investigators use a combination of shoe leather, public records and proprietary databases not available to the public.

Many years ago, before I founded Intermountain PI, I worked as a skip tracer.  I once found a subject that had moved from Lubbock, Texas to Las Cruces, New Mexico in 10 minutes and 4 telephone calls.  He had worked for an auto parts store in Lubbock when he up and disappeared.  I used a printed Cole’s Criss Cross directory (this was 30 years ago) and found the phone number of his next-door neighbor.  The neighbor told me he had just moved to Las Cruces. 

Now, this was years before auto parts stores had computers.  Back in the day if you needed an auto part, the clerk would search a series of books for the proper auto part number.  For example, if you needed an oil filter, the employee would need to know they were manufactured by Fram.  He would then search the Fram book for the proper part number.  In other words, there was a learning curve and employees had to be familiar with the books.  With this in mind, I took a chance that the subject would go back to the same type of job in New Mexico.  Sure enough, after my third telephone call to random auto parts stores, my subject answered the telephone.     

2. TAKE STATEMENTS

Legal professionals  also use private investigators to take statements.  These statements can be recorded, non-recorded, telephonic or videotaped.  Before you take a statement for a law firm be sure to consult with the attorney.  They may not want the statement recorded.  Before an attorney deposes someone they may want to find out whether the statement will be helpful to their case.  The statement may be nothing more than a short informal conversation.  Keep in mind, statements may be confrontational or non-confrontational.   You might also want to videotape the interview.  

You also may be required to take a statement from someone who speaks a foreign language.  If that’s the case, you’ll need a translator.  Companies such as, Cesco provide translators that will meet you and help you obtain a statement.  I’ve used them to take statements from people speaking Spanish, Mandarin Chinese and even Cantonese.

3. BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS

There are basically two different kinds of background investigations I conduct for law firms.  The first, is on individuals, and the second is on businesses.  I’ve conducted both types of background investigations for legal professionals.

Personal background checks may involve dating or pre-marital checks.  They could involve investigating a person’s social media footprint.  Or, they may involve checking out a nanny, maid, boyfriend or an associate.  The subject of the investigation may (or may not) be aware of the investigation.  

Background investigations for businesses are more complex.  They can involve both pre-employment and post-employment investigations.  A simple background check could be nothing more than a criminal or civil check.  On the other hand, it could be more complex and involve the inves...