How Imaginative is Your Investigator?
If investigation simply meant following people around or pulling information off easy-to-use databases, an investigator would not need a ton of imagination.
But tough cases can turn on an investigator thinking, “I should be seeing X…
Google and AI are Still Not Substitutes for Thinking
Back in 2011 we wrote that Google is not a substitute for thinking, after Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said in an interview that Google aims to “compute the right answer” to questions typed in by users rather than just provide links.
Now…
Open or Shut? Assets Hidden in Bank Accounts
PROBLEM:
A couple had seven different bank accounts when they were married, but the wife never kept close tabs on them. Now the husband is using money from a joint account that the wife doesn't realize is still open.
SOLUTIONS:
Bank…
Why I Love Working with Divorce Financial Analysts
I do some of my most satisfying work in the area of divorce. People (usually women) are often afraid as they navigate what for many of them is the worst thing that’s ever happened to them.
In a contested divorce, not only are they battling…
The Hallucinating AI Assistant
Would you want someone working for you who regularly hallucinates on the job? If I ran an ad agency, I might want such a person. Maybe he could dream up a series of ads in which a guy and an emu run around telling people about insurance.
But…
How to Start a Divorce Asset Search
Clients usually ask me three questions about a divorce asset search:
“What do you need from me to get started?”
“What can you find?” This is often followed with, “I really want bank and brokerage accounts.”
“How long…
Putting Outrage Aside
There is no shortage of outrage in the world. I suspect it’s always been like this, but it was harder to share it with everyone else before most of us started making instant movies of our lives, to be distributed to millions for almost no…
How Soon Should You Start a Divorce Asset Search?
If you’re thinking that you may be divorced in the near or medium term, the answer isn’t necessarily “start now,” but it’s not too early to start organizing your information.
Step 1: What Do I Know, and What is Missing?
It’s never…
AI and Google: Not so Different from an Investigative Perspective
Two of the best ways of explaining why a Google search is never enough in an investigation is to remind people that Google is not a neutral distributor of facts, and that it is a tool for thinkers, not a substitute for thinking. I’ve been…
The Perils of AI Investigation – Don’t Get Caught in a Doom Loop
A great piece by Ted Gioia https://lnkd.in/eQxZ5yJ7 about the dangers of looking backward only. This is what AI does, and if you're not careful, living only by algorithms can plunge you into a doom loop.
I've written consistently that generative…

