Conducting Your Due Diligence

AuthorRebecca Ann Taylor
ProfessionWriter and attorney
Pages167-168
167
Although litigation takes place mostly in the courts, there is much that can
be done outside the courts for a litigant to conduct thorough due diligence.
For example, the parties and their attorneys should dig deep and conduct
the necessary detective work to ascertain all facts relevant to their case.
Early in my career, I learned how important it is that you dig deep to know
your case inside and out, and this often includes information you do not
have in your le yet. In my case, opposing counsel had gone through the
public records and caught my team completely off guard at the hearing, as
he intended, by producing a public document about which neither we nor
our client were aware and which was completely fatal to our argument.
To avoid these kinds of situations, you have to take to the streets, some-
times literally, and go directly to any possible source that may bear the
information you’re looking for. In my case, we should have gone to the
ofce of the county recorder of public records and examined them for any-
thing that might have related to our issue. Today, many jurisdictions allow
online searches of their public records, but when this is not possible, you
will have to go to the ofce and go through the physical les.
Some people also hire a private investigator to do extra digging into
the facts and unknowns about their case. A few rms I have worked for
did actually hire private investigators, just like the law rm in Matlock
(a show that perfectly combines my love of detective work and the law
and my admiration of sheer trial genius). In fact, Matlock and all of his
staff always share in the investigating in every show, to perhaps a ctional,
Chapter 8
Conducting Your Due Diligence
Taylor CivilRightsLit_20131004_16-30_Confirmation Pass.indd 167 10/23/13 10:43 AM

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