In-the-Know Research, LLC

Lauren Havens

I'm a professional researcher. I provide consulting services to apprise attorneys of online information that could hurt, or help, their cases.

Trial Preparation

Researching Individuals

In researching prior to trial, I try to look at the case from the jurors' perspectives. If a juror goes online and researches you, your legal team, your client, your witnesses, the other legal team, and everyone else involved, what could they find that could sway them? If one of your experts has a careless comment on his site about how he'll help you win regardless of the facts, a juror could turn against you. I help you know what's out there so that you can fix it before trial, if possible, or at least be prepared for it in court.

Researching Topics

What online misinformation is available that could kill your case? If the other legal team claims that a medical condition is impossible in your client's specific circumstances and jurors find online information to support that claim, it doesn't matter if your experts testify that the condition is possible. You need to know what jurors could find that would contradict the claims you will be making.

Jury Selection

As soon as I get a list of potential jurors, I start looking into those individuals. Depending on how much time you have for the selection process, I may spend just a few minutes to half an hour per prospective juror looking for information to help you know whether or not to strike that person. This often unearths otherwise unsuspected and crucial selection information that's unlikely to come up in jury voir dire.

In a few hours, I can also help train someone in your office to do searches better than untrained staff knows how to do.

In my article Virtual Reality: How jurors finding information online can swing your case, I describe some of the important areas to consider when researching topics and people related to your case.

When you have information needs, stay in-the-know, and stay one step ahead.