In the post-Madoff world, there is little need to explain to investors or companies the value of proper due diligence. Even individuals with good reputations should be checked if they are to be in control of any amount of money or entrusted with any significant degree of responsibility.

We have been asked to check prospective board members at public companies, and prospective employees at both public and private firms. We were recently retained by a prospective employee who wanted to find out about employment conditions at a professional firm that had offered him a job.

Our intelligence begins with a deep search of the public record. For some firms that is the end of the road, while for us it is just step one. With client approval, we then take cases beyond conventional databases and Google searches. Identifying the right people to talk to and then quietly interviewing them about facts that do not make it onto the public record is our firm’s core skill.