EDISCOVERY
Curious Minds Drive Effective Legal Investigations By HUNTER MCMAHON AND WARREN KRUSE instructions. The kind of consulting that makes a difference requires a shift in posture, from order taker to insight seeker.
BE A CURIOUS INVESTIGATOR
C
uriosity is the spark behind every discovery, at home and in legal investigations. As most parents can relate, we’ve both been on the receiving end of those relentless, curious questions from our kids: “Why is the sky blue?” “Why can’t I have ice cream for breakfast?” That kind of curiosity can be exhausting at the end of a long day, but it’s also revealing. It’s honest. And if you listen closely, you start to see it not as pestering, but as practice. They’re trying to make sense of their world, one “why” at a time. Similarly, between us, we’ve spent decades working in consulting and BACK TO CONTENTS
investigations where that same brand of curiosity, the kind that doesn’t stop at the first answer but keeps pulling the thread, is what separates a good investigator from someone who’s just checking boxes. It’s not about being the smartest person in the room. It’s about being the most engaged, the one who wants to understand, not just deliver. All too often, investigations get reduced to a task list: pull the data, review the documents, summarize the facts. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but when consulting becomes a routine process, it loses its value. Anyone can follow
The curious investigator doesn’t just accept the problem as given; they explore it. They challenge the framing. They add value. They ask, “Why is this the problem we’re solving?”, “What is the end goal?” and “What else could be going on here?” This doesn’t mean doubting the client. It means working in partnership, clarifying the goals, understanding the context, and aligning on what success really looks like. There’s a temptation in our field to equate volume with value, to deliver lengthy reports full of timelines, charts, and metadata. But information isn’t the same as insight. The best investigators don’t just assemble dots. They connect them in a way that reveals meaning. They identify patterns that matter, timelines that shift understanding, and recognize that sometimes the absence of information speaks louder than the data itself. Over the years, we’ve both reflected on what we’re passing on, not just in investigations, but in life and to our children. One idea we
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2025
TODAYSGENERALCOUNSEL.COM
8
