Investigations
Neutral, trauma-informed investigations built to survive review. We are engaged when a matter is too close to home, when capacity has run out, or when the finding needs to come from someone with no stake in the outcome.
What this covers
Title IX
Sex discrimination and sex-based harassment, from intake through final determination.
Title VI
Race, color, and national origin, including hostile environment claims.
Title VII
Workplace harassment, discrimination, and retaliation for institutional employers.
ADA and Section 504
Disability discrimination, accommodation denials, and access complaints.
Privileged investigations
Engaged through your general counsel or outside counsel and conducted at their direction, so the work sits inside the privilege the institution is relying on.
What you receive at the end
Three formats. The choice is yours, and it is worth making deliberately at scoping rather than at the end.
Comprehensive investigation report
The full written record: allegations, the standard applied, notice and process, every witness and document relied on, the analysis, and the findings with the reasoning behind each. Built for a reader who was not in the room and who owes the institution nothing. This is the format that survives an appeal, an agency review, or litigation.
Executive summary
A short written document stating what was alleged, what was examined, what was found, and what follows. Written for leadership, a board, or a decision maker who needs the conclusion and its basis without the full evidentiary record. Ordinarily produced alongside a comprehensive report rather than instead of one.
Oral report
Findings delivered verbally to the institution or to counsel, with no written report issued. Used where an institution wants an assessment before deciding how to proceed, or where counsel is directing the engagement and intends to keep the work inside privilege.
Choose the format at scoping
The format changes how the work is conducted, not just how it is written up. Tell us at the outset. Deciding after the evidence is gathered narrows what we can responsibly produce.
What an oral report cannot do
It cannot later prove what was found. If a matter is challenged in a year, an institution holding no written findings has the outcome and no record of the reasoning that produced it. We will say so before you choose it.
Our working file either way
We retain our own investigative file under our records retention schedule whichever format you choose. An oral report limits what the institution holds, not what exists.
How an engagement runs
Three phases, and what each one actually involves.
Before we take it
Conflicts and scope
We screen the practitioner and the firm against the institution, the parties, the witnesses we know of, and counsel. Where a conflict disqualifies us, we say so and decline rather than manage around it.
Engagement terms
Scope, rate, fee cap, reporting line, and deadline in writing before any contact with a party. Where privilege matters, we are engaged through counsel and report to them.
While it runs
Intake and preservation
Parties receive notice of the process and their options. Evidence is preserved and the record starts on day one rather than being reconstructed later.
Evidence and interviews
Trauma-informed interviewing that still tests the account. Documentation of what was asked and answered, and neutrality that is visible on the page.
Status you can act on
You are told what is open, what moved, and what is at risk. No institution should learn about a delay from a party.
At the end
Findings
A written determination that states the standard applied, the evidence relied on, and the reasoning, so a reviewer can trace it without us in the room.
Handover
The complete file delivered in a usable format, retained under our records schedule, and destroyed at delivery instead if you prefer.
How the work is priced
An investigation is priced on the work it takes, not on what is at stake for you. The variables are the number of parties and witnesses, the volume of evidence, whether the matter is already in progress, and how quickly it has to move.
Most institutions do not want an open meter, so most engagements run under a fee cap or a fixed fee agreed after scoping. We tell you the number before we start, and we tell you early if the scope changes rather than after the invoice.
- Unit
- A matter, scoped and quoted before intake.
- Basis
- Hourly against a fee cap or a fixed fee, agreed in writing.
- Never
- No contingency, and no fee that varies with the finding.
- Sector
- PK-12 runs on its own published schedule.
Published rates
Signing a service agreement earns 15 percent off general services and locks the rate for the term.
PK-12
Districts, charters, and independent schools.
- PK-12 hourly $275 to $325
- Fee cap or fixed fee Agreed at scoping
- Matter in progressPK-12 rate, scoped after file review
Higher education
Colleges, universities, and systems.
- Standard hourly $375 to $475
- Fee cap or fixed fee Agreed at scoping
- Matter in progressStandard rate, scoped after file review
Workplaces
Employers, including institutional HR functions.
- Standard hourly $375 to $475
- Fee cap or fixed fee Agreed at scoping
- Matter in progressStandard rate, scoped after file review
What the fee covers
Conflicts screening, intake, preservation, evidence collection, interviews, analysis, and the deliverable you selected at scoping, whether that is a comprehensive report, an executive summary, or an oral report. Revisions arising from our own error are not billed.
What sits outside it
Appeals, hearings, and testimony are engaged separately. Travel and any platform or transcription costs are billed at cost and pre-approved.
Range, and where you land in it
The spread reflects the number of parties and witnesses, evidence volume, framework complexity, and urgency. We quote a figure after scoping, not a range.
Billing
Monthly in arrears, net 30, minimum increment one tenth of an hour. Institutions requiring net 60 for procurement should say so at scoping.
Speed
For most matters we can be in intake within days of a signed engagement letter. Tell us if you are against a deadline and we will say plainly whether we can meet it.
Independence
No contingency, and no fee that varies with what we find. Every practitioner is background screened, with records provided on request.
Taking over a matter in progress
We regularly step into open investigations when an investigator becomes unavailable or a conflict surfaces mid-process. We review the file, preserve what exists, and carry it through to a defensible report.
Where privilege matters, engage us through counsel. We conduct privileged investigations at counsel’s direction and report to them rather than to the institution directly, which is what keeps the work inside the privilege you are relying on. We are a compliance firm rather than a law firm, so whether privilege attaches depends on how the engagement is structured and on your counsel’s judgment. We say that plainly before an engagement letter is signed.
Read the questions we get