NALI was formed in 1967 for legal investigators actively engaged in negligence
investigations for the plaintiff and/or criminal defense. These investigators may be
employed by private investigative agencies, law firms or office of the public defender.
The primary focus of NALI is: to further the art and science of legal investigation, to
continually educate our members, to support and advance our members professionally
and to endorse the highest standard of professional ethics. This commonality of purpose
forms a fraternity among our members that is conducive not only to broad business
relationships but deep personal friendships as well.
Our membership includes professional legal investigators located throughout the United
States and other countries. The average NALI member has a diverse professional
background and over fifteen years of experience as a legal investigator. Perhaps the
greatest advantage to membership is access to assistance in practically every state, help
that is as quick and accessible as a telephone call or email to another member. The
Association publishes a national membership directory on its web site which contains the
names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses and investigative specialties of all
members.
Our association is one of the oldest professional associations of its kind. NALI is
recognized throughout the U.S. and internationally for its certification program (CLI) and
as the preeminent provider of training and continuing education for litigation
investigators.
If you have a minimum of 24 months of documented full-time employment as an
investigative professional supporting those attorneys engaged in litigation and want to
join a network of highly skilled and experienced professionals, NALI is the association
for you.
Our History
The need for an organization of Legal Investigators came to light in June, 1965. Thirty
plaintiff investigators attended a first of its kind meeting, during a three-day training
school for legal investigators in Belleville, Illinois. The attendees recognized the need for
a formal organization for investigators who specialize in investigation of personal injury
matters.
Two years later, thirty-five legal investigators, representing fifteen different states,
met at the Bel-Air East Motor Inn in St. Louis, Missouri and founded the National Association
of Legal Investigators. These “founding fathers” recognized the need for a cadre of
similarly situated professionals who could share information and assist each other with
investigative work across the country. They also knew that by coming together, as a
group, they could receive training in their work which would greatly enhance their
abilities. The organization these men envisioned became the National Association of
Legal Investigators and almost fifty years later, the National Association of Legal
Investigators (NALI) continues its mission of providing education, professional
resources, ethical standards and collegial fellowship to its members.
The express purpose for which the National Association of Legal Investigators was
founded, the professionalization of the legal investigator, still holds forth today and is
accomplished by the seminars sponsored by the Association; by its professional
certification program; by its quarterly publication, The Legal Investigator; by its website
NALI Online; and by the nationwide network of contact provided among its members.
Every year since its founding convention in the summer of 1967, NALI has held a
national investigation seminar, featuring prominent lecturers from all disciplines
throughout the country. Past national seminars have featured speakers on such topics as
the investigation of products liability and negligent design cases, the investigation of
professional malpractice, the investigation of railroad crossing cases, air crash
investigation, admiralty investigation, interview and statement techniques, photography,
accident reconstruction and criminal defense investigation, to name a few. NALI also
hosted an entire seminar dealing with environmental health litigation and investigation.
The Association enforces a Code of Ethics among its members, which was adopted in
1970 and recently updated. The Preamble to the Code of Ethics provides that, “A legal
investigator is dedicated to a search for truth and the furtherance of his or her employer’s
or client’s interest consistent therewith.” This search for truth makes possible the
establishment of the American ideals of fairness and justice for the benefit of the client in
every case that the investigator works on. It should be the intention of every investigator
to deal honestly, justly and courteously with all whom he or she comes in contact and to
practice the profession according to this Code of Ethics.”
As it was in 1967 it is today; the goal of NALI is embodied in its motto, “Without the
true facts, there can be no justice.”