Curious Minds Drive Effective Legal Investigations

Curiosity 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 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 instructions. The kind of consulting that makes a difference requires a shift in posture, from order taker to insight seeker.

Be a Curious Investigator

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 keep returning to is not only the importance of asking “why” but doing so before diving into “what.” The thoughtful investigator (like Warren’s son, who followed him into this world) pauses to ask: “What’s really at stake here?” “What decision is this effort meant to inform?” “What are the risks of being directionally accurate but contextually wrong?”

Worth the Effort

Asking curious questions may feel like it will slow things down, but it protects against wasted time and costly missteps. In high-stakes investigations, moving too fast can send you racing in the wrong direction. As the Navy SEALs say, “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.”  A moment of inquiry at the outset can save weeks of untangling later. Asking the right questions early isn’t inefficient; it’s essential.

Of course, curiosity must be purposeful. It can’t just be a series of open-ended wanderings. The best investigators apply their questions with intent. They follow leads with discipline. They resist the urge to leap to conclusions or to settle for the convenient explanation.  You’re not just reporting what happened. You’re working to understand why it happened and what it means in context.

We’ve both worked on cases where a single question reshaped the course of the investigation. Sometimes it was something as simple as, “What isn’t in this dataset that should be?” Other times, a client said something that prompted a curious investigator to ask, “Tell me more about that.” That’s when things get interesting. That’s when you find the real story.

We’ve also worked on matters where a single question was not welcomed, the “just collect it” request.  In one recent example, a client said, “Can you get on a plane today and meet a custodian to image his laptop?” We tried, but were offered no time to ask the custodian or IT anything about the computer or where they store data. As it turned out, the custodian didn’t even need the computer and could have shipped it. To make matters worse, the organization used a roaming profile, so no documents were stored locally. If we were able to ask a few questions upfront, we could have preserved the data remotely and saved significant time and money.

Curiosity is a Strategy

Curiosity isn’t a soft skill. It’s a strategic one. It allows us to serve not just the task at hand, but the outcome that matters. It’s what transforms a report into a recommendation, and a service into a solution.

In the end, the best “curious investigators” who succeed are those who haven’t outgrown the childlike drive to understand. They’ve simply learned how to channel it with purpose. They know that sometimes the most powerful move isn’t delivering an answer, but asking a better question. So, how do you spot those curious investigators? They…

• Ask for background information (context) on the situation
• Want to understand the goal of the investigation, not just tasks
• Let questions breed more questions, not just acceptances of answers
• Offer ideas for related analysis proactively, not only upon request.
• Develop customized protocols based on the need
• Probably save you time and money

And maybe, if we’re all so lucky, we’ll keep asking “why” long after our kids have stopped asking us questions.