Elementary My Dear Watson: Legal Investigation

AuthorScott A. Hatch/Lisa Zimmer Hatch
ProfessionFounders of The Center for Legal Studies and developed their award-winning paralegal curriculum in 1980, offering it through 600 colleges nationwide
Pages175-185
CHAPTER 11 Elementary My Dear Watson: Legal Investigation 175
Chapter11
Elementary My Dear
Watson: Legal
Investigation
Cases don’t just show up on the law rm’s doorstep served on a silver platter
ready to take to court. Too often, the attorney and paralegal need to dis-
cover and develop the facts of the client’s case in order to eectively pre-
pare for settlement or trial. This means doing a little detective work. As a paralegal,
you may nd yourself playing Sherlock Holmes or Nancy Drew to nd important
evidence. Your supervising attorney may also call on you to mark and preserve
case evidence and organize it for trial.
In this chapter, we show you how to conduct the informal discovery process (as
opposed to the formal discovery process we discuss in Chapter6, involving sub-
mitting to the other party written documents, like interrogatories and requests for
production, and conduction depositions). We give you tips on how to nd sup-
porting evidence for civil cases, how to mark the evidence and keep it safe for trial,
and how to organize it to present the client’s case in the most convincing manner.
IN THIS CHAPTER
»
Locating and obtaining evidence
toprove the client’s case
»
Marking and preserving evidence
touse at trial
»
Organizing evidence to meet the
demands of case preparation

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