Practical articles on litigation support, business litigation, surveillance, vendor fraud, compliance, and intellectual property investigations from MAYN Investigations.
Signs, operating hours, customer traffic, and publicly visible activity can help clarify how a business presents itself and operates at a location. Each observation needs context.
Several days of observation can reveal a pattern that a single visit would miss, but additional time should serve a clear question. Repeating an unproductive schedule without review can waste resources.
A photograph can establish that something was visible at a particular moment. It may not establish ownership, intent, the content of a conversation, or the meaning of a relationship.
Surveillance is most useful when observable activity can answer a defined question. It cannot explain every motive, private conversation, or business relationship.
An interview should gather a person’s account rather than steer them toward the answer someone wants. Preparation begins with a list of factual topics and the witness’s possible connection to them.
A witness locate is easier to scope when the legal team supplies reliable identifiers and explains why contact is needed. A name alone can produce misleading matches.
Emails, invoices, schedules, and witness accounts may describe the same event differently. A timeline helps identify agreements, gaps, and conflicts without prematurely deciding which source is correct.
A long report is not automatically a useful report. Legal teams need to understand what was done, what was observed, where information came from, and what remains unresolved.
Timing affects what information is still available. A location may change, a witness may become difficult to reach, or an online listing may disappear while a business considers its options.
