Private investigator in Seattle. Facts that hold up in court.
Licensed here since 2016. Hired by the lawyers who try cases here.
Integra Intelligence is the Seattle firm of Lael Henterly, a Washington-licensed private investigator and Certified Legal Investigator, working from Queen Anne for law firms, companies and investors. The clients are the firms that bring securities fraud and qui tam cases, insolvency and asset-recovery practitioners, and companies with a deal or a dispute that turns on what someone did not disclose. The work is asset searches before suit and after judgment, due diligence on a counterparty or a founder, finding and interviewing witnesses, and the records work that decides a motion.
Our clients do not hire us on price. They hire us because we are diligent, because we consistently obtain information others do not, and because the work product outruns the size of the firm: a declaration a judge can follow, exhibits in order, a report counsel can lift into a brief. What they are buying is judgment: which of the King County clerk's systems holds the file, which registry answers in a week and which in a quarter, what survives cross-examination, and when to say there is nothing to find. Lael trains candidates for the Washington investigator exam as a Department of Licensing certified trainer, teaches civil litigation investigation at the University of Washington and is president of the Washington Association of Legal Investigators.
Seven jobs a Seattle lawyer sends us.
Asset searches, before suit and after judgment
Whether a defendant can pay decides whether to sue, settle or walk away. We read King County title, the Secretary of State, UCC filings, the Department of Financial Institutions registers and the dockets against each other, and say early when there is nothing to collect. After judgment, we give counsel what supplemental proceedings and a writ require.
Due diligence on people and companies
A founder before the term sheet, a counterparty before the contract, an executive before the offer, an expert before the deposition. We put what the record says next to what they said, in a report that reads in an hour and holds up when someone checks it.
Finding and interviewing witnesses
The former employee who saw the books, the neighbour who heard the argument, the engineer who left before the recall. We locate them, approach them lawfully, interview them and, where it serves, reduce what they say to a signed declaration. More than a thousand interviews so far, most for plaintiffs' counsel.
Securities fraud and qui tam
Corroborating a whistleblower, finding the confidential witnesses a complaint needs to survive a motion to dismiss, and tracing where investor money went. We have done this across pharma, technology, AI, healthcare, biotech, luxury goods, energy and infrastructure, for firms that file in Seattle and in New York.
Workplace investigations
An independent investigation of a harassment, retaliation or misconduct complaint, run for the employer or its counsel: interviews, documents, findings. Written so that it can be produced if the matter goes to litigation, because it may.
Open-source intelligence
What a subject has said, posted, filed and deleted, across social media, the corporate web, court dockets and the registries, captured and preserved so it can be authenticated later. Lael is OSMOSIS-certified in open-source intelligence.
Records that are not online
King County probate files sit in a clerk's system no search engine indexes; the recorder's older instruments are on microfilm; Pierce blacks out document images online. We know which basement, which counter and which clerk, in King County and the thirty-eight others.
What Seattle clients ask first.
The Washington records toolkit lists the free Washington searches you can run yourself before hiring anyone. Many attorneys do, and call us for the rest.
Are you licensed, and how do I check?
Yes. Washington licenses the investigator and, separately, the agency. Lael Henterly holds private investigator licence 4292 and agency principal licence 2248, both since 2016, and you can confirm either in a minute on the Department of Licensing lookup. Check whomever you hire. The state licenses just over 1,100 private investigators, more than half of them since 2023, and most new agencies do not last. Ask how long the licence has been held, and who has cross-examined its holder.
How much does an investigation cost?
We bill by the hour, plus expenses at cost, against an estimate you receive before we start. Nothing is a fixed fee; the estimate covers the whole engagement, and we tell you before we pass it. A simple pre-suit asset search runs about ten hours, so expect $2,000 or more. Where a colleague in another state or country does part of the work, the estimate shows that part separately. We take engagement from counsel under a retainer letter and keep the file so it can be produced, or protected as work product, as the matter requires.
What kinds of cases do you take?
Five kinds: complex litigation, including securities fraud and qui tam; asset recovery, from the pre-suit collectability question through post-judgment enforcement; due diligence on people and entities; workplace investigations for employers and their counsel; and open-source intelligence. Most matters come to us through counsel. We also work for individuals with a problem a court can solve: a judgment nobody has collected, an estate with assets missing, a spouse whose money moved before the petition. The resources pages set out what each involves and what you can do yourself first.
Can you find someone for me?
If there is a lawful reason, yes: a witness to serve or interview, an heir, a debtor, a defendant who has moved. The databases we hold access to require a permissible purpose under federal privacy law, and we document it on every search. We do not locate people for someone who will not say why. The finding-a-person page explains what is searchable, what is not, and what a court will accept as diligent effort when service by publication is the question.
Will your work hold up in court?
It always has. Findings go into a sworn declaration with the underlying records as exhibits, so counsel can attach it to a motion without a further foundation witness. Open-source captures are preserved with the metadata authentication needs. Witness statements are taken so they can be used at deposition and so the witness will not be surprised by them. Lael has testified and been deposed, and holds the Certified Legal Investigator credential, which is examined and peer-reviewed. We would rather tell you a fact is unsupported than have opposing counsel tell the court.
Where are you, and do you work outside Seattle?
The office is on Queen Anne, at 904 W. Highland Drive, ten minutes from the King County courthouse and the federal courthouse on Stewart Street. We work all thirty-nine Washington counties. Beyond Washington, we run matters in every state through licensed colleagues, and in more than 80 countries through the international networks we belong to and have vetted in person.
Need an investigator in Seattle?
Tell us the matter, what you already hold and the deadline. You will hear back within one business day with a view on what the record is likely to show and an estimate for finding out.
Contact Integra Intelligence