This text compares the experiences of two researchers working in legal cases: Roddy Brett's in a trial against former Guatemalan Army high command charged with genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, and Frederic Solop's, as a researcher in a series of cases involving racial profiling in Arizona. The article also examines the researcher's dilemmas as a legal case researcher in a context where the investigation might be questioned and the researcher might in fact find serious tensions and limits between the personal and the professional.