Tag Archive for: investigative techniques
AI Is Our Tower of Babel
I often tell new clients: “Google yourself. Even if you are very famous (and most of my clients are not), how much of what you know about yourself will be on the web?
For most of us, the answer is, one or two percent of what we know of…
Just “a little off” Can Mean Fraud
Lots of the work in divorce asset detection involves looking at the names of companies a subject has, and then trying to figure out the names of new companies concealed from our client (the spouse).
Sometimes, a tiny change is all it takes…
What Languages Can Your Investigator Speak?
I think we can all agree that the more languages you can speak, the better off you will be, all other things being equal. AI instant translation is a great invention, but who wouldn’t want to be able to read a case or a newspaper article in…
The Most Money I Ever Found in a Divorce Case? From Securities Filings
It’s not even a close call. Sometimes I can find hundreds of thousands of dollars in a company or two that may eventually lead to a better settlement, sometimes a vacation home that was being tucked away or grossly undervalued.
But for…
The Courage to Investigate and Leave AI Behind
There was a letter awhile back in Barron’s that said, “Lawyers look backward to precedent. Innovators assiduously look forward and avoid precedent. The two mindsets are antithetical.”
The letter was about why lawyers at the SEC can’t…
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…
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…
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…
