Tuesday, November 14, 2006

A Jane of All Trades



Sometimes being a criminal defense investigator entails different tasks than those that strictly qualify as "investigation." Perhaps too much of the time, I find myself performing duties that could lead to a job title of :

hand holder,

babysitter,

tailor,

chauffeur,

counselor (as in therapist, not attorney)

and, okay, magician (being expected to pull a rabbit out of my ass when all else fails).

But then who the heck else is going to do it?

When you are on the public dole, well, whatever. As a private investigator, I sometimes feel a bit weird about billing my full hourly for such things (with the exception of the rabbit act). In the end, tho, I've concluded that these semi-non-investigatory tasks are vital to the overall health of the case...and the legal team.

1 comment:

ambimb said...

I just started working as a public but I can tell you already that, yes, indeed, investigators are often asked to do a wide array of things that most people wouldn't usually consider a part of the "investigation." I wonder if we could think of a more appropriate title, like "Savior" or "Saint." You might think I'm joking, but when I'm looking through my files and thinking of all that I need to do for each one, I'm also thinking of all the things our investigators are doing and I thank my stars someone w/great competence in those areas has got them covered. Investigators rock!