What to expect at your first consultation

Almost everybody who makes this call has never made it before, and most of them apologise at some point for wasting our time. Nobody is wasting anybody’s time. Here is exactly how it goes.

It is a conversation, not a sales call

The purpose of a first consultation is to work out two things: what you actually need to know, and whether investigation is a sensible way to find it out. Sometimes the answer to the second is no. A firm that never reaches that conclusion is not being honest with anybody.

There is no charge and no obligation. You do not need to have decided anything before you call.

What you will be asked

Practical questions, in roughly this order.

• What is happening, in your own words. Start wherever makes sense. It does not need to be organised.
• What you need to know. Often the most useful part of the call, because the question people arrive with is not always the one that would actually help them.
• What you have already observed. Dates, changes in routine, anything specific.
• The practical details. Names, addresses, workplaces, vehicles, schedules, who else is involved.
• Whether there is a deadline. A court date, a hearing, a decision you have to make. This changes what is feasible.
• Whether an attorney is involved. If so, they may want to shape the scope.
• How it is safe to contact you. Asked routinely, because for a lot of clients it matters a great deal.

What you do not have to share

You are not obliged to justify why you want to know something. You do not have to explain the state of your marriage, defend a decision, or provide a history you would rather not go into. If a question does not sit right, say so — it is either not necessary or we will explain why it matters.

You also do not need to have documents ready, and please do not send sensitive material through a website form before you have spoken to anybody.

What you should ask

Turn it around. The consultation is for you to assess the investigator too.

• Can this actually be investigated, and how confident are you?
• What would you realistically be able to document?
• Who will do the work?
• What will I receive at the end?
• What will it cost, and what is billable beyond field time?
• What would make you tell me not to do this?

How to prepare in ten minutes

Optional, but it makes the call more productive. Write down the timeline of what you have noticed with rough dates. List names, addresses, workplaces and vehicles. Note any deadline. Write down the one thing you most need to know. That is it.

Contacting us safely

If you share devices or accounts with someone connected to the situation, think about this before you make contact. Browser history, call logs, email and text messages may all be visible to them. Consider calling from a phone they do not have access to, and tell us at the start of the call — we will agree a method of contact and stick to it, including not leaving voicemails or sending email. This request is completely routine and nobody will think it is strange.

How it ends

One of three ways. We tell you an investigation can help, and you get a written scope and cost to consider — with no pressure to accept it on the call. We tell you it probably will not help, and why, which is a genuinely useful outcome. Or we tell you the matter belongs somewhere else entirely — law enforcement, or an attorney — and point you in that direction.

In all three cases you will know more at the end of the call than you did at the start, and you will not have spent anything.