What Does a Legal Investigator Do?
A legal investigator is much like a private investigator, but they report to a specific lawyer or law firm. Legal investigators work to find out information that could be useful in a law case that their lawyers are building against a person or entity. Their roles may include visiting crime scenes and documenting behaviors or other notable items, obtaining records, interviewing witnesses, making calls to set up appointments, and testifying in court as experts when needed.
Legal investigators are crucial members of their team. They must be extremely detail-oriented and trustworthy and have excellent written and verbal communication skills. They may work long hours or atypical schedules, so those looking to become legal investigators should be prepared to be on call, especially during an important case.
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National Average Salary
Legal investigator salaries vary by experience, industry, organization size, and geography. Click below to explore salaries by local market.
The average national salary for a Legal Investigator is:
$59,648
Legal Investigator Job Descriptions
The first step when hiring a great legal investigator is a well-crafted job description. Below are real-world examples to help give you the best chance of success on your recruiting journey.
Example 1
Legal investigators provide services to the public, law firms, insurance companies, banks, and law enforcement agencies. They use techniques such as surveillance, research, and other tools to gather, analyze, and report on information about personal, financial, and legal matters. Legal investigators have keen communication and listening skills, strong analytical ability, and good presentation skills. [Your Company Name] needs a strong legal investigator who can join our team and help our company with legal matters. If you have experience collecting and analyzing information that can be used in trials or litigation, you might be a perfect fit for our opening as a legal investigator.
Typical duties and responsibilities
- Locate and interview key witnesses
- Collect and examine evidence
- Prepare evidence for trial
- Verify evidence before trial
- Testify in court
- Conduct research to help an attorney strategize before a trial
Education and experience
This position requires a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, political science, or a similar field of study, as well as licensing as a private investigator (in applicable states). Coursework in the legal system is also recommended.
Required skills and qualifications
- Strong knowledge in civil procedure, statutory and case law, and local rules of court
- Proficient in preserving, collecting, and admitting evidence
- Strong knowledge of forensic science
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Strong organizational skills
- Keen attention to detail
- Ability to work in a fast-paced environment
Example 2
ABC Company’s civil litigation firm seeks an Investigator for our (City, State) office.
Responsibilities
- Interview clients about their work history and exposure to asbestos
- Locate and interview witnesses
- Research clients’ work history and work sites to determine what asbestos products were present and how they correlate to the work function
- Perform extensive internal, library, and online searches
- Attend and perform document reviews to identify relevant and useful documents
Qualifications
- Ability to work under pressure due to time and content-sensitive deadlines
- Strong computer skills
- Experience with legal research and interview skills and techniques is preferred
- Must be able to work independently and as part of a team to establish and foster working relationships with attorneys, investigators, paralegals, and legal assistants
- Detail-oriented with the ability to analyze and problem solve
- Prior work experience in construction, automotive, industrial, shipbuilding, law enforcement, or similar trade profession is preferred. Experience in plaintiff-side litigation is strongly desired
Example 3
In this position, as a neutral fact-finder, you will conduct investigations into allegations of individuals and businesses involved in activities that are in violation of (the State’s) consumer protection laws and regulations. You will work independently under general supervision and perform a full range of investigative assignments. Investigations typically include researching and gathering evidence, interviewing witnesses, writing citations, thoroughly documenting the investigative process, and participating in administrative hearings. You may serve as an expert witness and conduct undercover investigations. In this position, you are not required to respond to situations involving threats to public safety or perform duties that consist of actively preventing or detecting crime, or perform duties that primarily provide community protection, and you do not obtain warrants of arrest.
Responsibilities
- Conducting investigations
- Maintaining detailed records, preparing reports, and drafting legal documents
- Interacting with consumers, businesses, attorneys, and other government agencies
- Ensuring compliance with state statutes and rules
- Facilitating resolutions of consumer complaints
- Initiating legal action and negotiating settlement agreements
- Acting as an expert witness in administrative and judicial proceedings
- Tactfully and calmly handling conflict
Ideal investigators will have
- Excellent communication skills
- The ability to thrive while balancing multiple priorities and cases
- The ability to apply strong analytical skills in determining violations of the law
- Exceptional writing skills
Preferences
- Juris Doctorate
- Bachelor’s degree or higher
- Investigative experience
- Experience analyzing and applying laws
Qualifications
- The ability to speak clearly, concisely, and effectively
- The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas as presented verbally
- The ability to use case management software systems
- The ability to use computer relational database software
- The ability to deal with people in a manner that shows sensitivity, tact, and professionalism
- Knowledge of agency, professional, and/or industry standards and practices
- Knowledge of interviewing techniques
- Knowledge of investigative techniques and processes
- Knowledge of civil and criminal justice laws
- Knowledge of legal processes and procedures
Example 4
Purpose of the role
As a Financial Crimes Investigator, you will be responsible for identifying and monitoring Financial Crime activities such as fraud, money laundering, and terrorist financing. You will be conducting investigations and reporting findings to the relevant US authorities. You will play a critical role in protecting ABC Company and its customers and ensuring the company meets its regulatory obligations.
Responsibilities
- Conduct 2nd level investigations from alerts generated by ABC Company monitoring systems as well as alerts raised by front-line teams.
- Drive and facilitate the continued optimization of Financial Crimes detection systems by way of rule reviews, trend analysis, and customer & threat profiling
- Monitor and communicate volume and quality metrics
- Think critically about the customer’s activity vs. the customer’s profile
- Engage with external partners, consortiums, and other financial institutions to exchange knowledge and gain a deeper understanding of Financial Crime trends
- Manage comprehensive investigations through to reporting to the applicable governing authorities
- Ensure maintenance of thorough investigation records
- Work in conjunction with other areas of the organization to design and implement changes to processes and procedures
- Update and train on internal documentation on work processes
- Support the development and enhancement of the Financial Crimes team
- Supporting and providing feedback to junior financial investigators/team members
- Delivering training and communicating financial crime updates to the wider business
- Contribute to a high standard of service to all internal/external clients
Qualifications
- 3+ years experience in Financial Crimes investigations ideally within the financial sector
- Knowledge of current Risk, Anti-Fraud, and Anti-Money Laundering obligations and frameworks
- Understanding of red flags, criminal typologies, and trends
- Ability to investigate, make logical findings, and clearly articulate those findings
- Ability to prioritize work and resources, keeping business objectives at the forefront of the decision-making process
- Strong stakeholder management and problem-solving skills
- Strong communication skills, both written and verbal, with the capability to articulate complex technical information
- Ability to maintain high standards of accuracy and work under pressure to achieve deadlines
- Demonstrated self-initiative and ability to work unsupervised
- High level of personal integrity, commitment to confidentiality, and privacy principles
- Experience working closely with an operational function and frontline staff
- Technical skills, MS Office Suite (Intermediate)
Candidate Certifications to Look For
- Certified Legal Investigator. The National Association of Legal Investigators sets national certification standards for legal investigators and awards the Certified Legal Investigator credential to candidates who meet professional requirements, including 5+ years of experience and pass rigorous written and oral examinations.
- Professional Certified Investigator (PCI). The PCI credential is offered by ASIS International, the world’s largest membership organization for security management professionals. This certification demonstrates a candidate’s select skills in security investigations, including case evaluation and review of options for case management strategies, and validates their ability to collect information through the effective use of surveillance, interviews, and interrogations. Eligible candidates must have 3 to 5 years of investigations experience, depending on the level of education attained, and 2 years of case management.