View online in The Legal Intelligencer.

In the article, Zach Rubinich focuses on the use of private investigators in workers’ compensation cases and outlines the various ethical and legal considerations. While private investigators can gather and provide useful and valuable intelligence that may support your litigation strategies, the supervising attorney must understand the ethical and legal considerations inherent when working with private investigators. The article discusses several Model Rules of Professional Conduct including Rule 4.1 (Transactions with Persons Other than Clients); Rule 5.3 (Responsibilities Regarding Nonlawyer Assistance) and Rule 8.4 (Misconduct). The article also focuses on supervision and legal review of the private investigator’s work, including commonly used investigative techniques such as pretexting, social media, surveillance and license plate data. The materials explore sensitive information related to accessing, collecting and protection of criminal history databases, police reports, tax return information, DMV records, index search results, social networking sites and protected health/medical information. This article provides guidance and a better understanding of common issues faced by attorneys while working with private investigators during the handling of a litigated workers’ compensation case.

Published in the October 15, 2019 edition of The Legal Intelligencer © 2019 ALM Media Properties, LLC. All rights reserved. Further duplication without permission is prohibited, contact 877-257-3382 or reprints@alm.com.