The world is always changing at a rapid pace, but sometimes you’ll get an event that accelerates things even more, one that can be quite transformative in terms of how we carry out our jobs, or even just live our lives.
And it’s been five years since arguably the most recent of this huge events. The global pandemic of 2020 was historic, and the effects are still being felt today.
As private investigators who work as process servers for a number of solicitor firms, we’ve definitely seen the impact, so here’s how process serving has changed in a post-2020 world.
Locating clients
You might assume that the easiest place to serve someone legal documents is their home, but often their workplace was actually an easier task.
Think about it, how often do you post your address publicly online? Hopefully never. But we wouldn’t be surprised if you have your place of work listed on your social media pages. So why would we go to the effort of finding your address if we could just turn up at your place of work?
Except that it’s a little more complicated these days, since there’s no guarantee of where you’ll be. Maybe you work at home 2-3 days a week, or even full-time. Perhaps your schedule is inconsistent, and you generally enjoy flexible work time.
This can mean it’s harder to pinpoint a recipient and serve them, and it could take a little extra work to get a home address first.
Digital service
On the flip side, it’s now easier than ever to serve someone digitally if they are clearly being evasive.
Several legal documents can be served via digital methods if service hasn’t been possible in person.
Emails and messaging services are hardly new within the last five years but they are even more prevalent than they’ve ever been. Even if you have grandparents who don’t ever open their emails, we bet you can probably contact them via Messenger or WhatsApp.
So there are even more avenues open to process servers for effecting service efficiently.
The need for process servers
Despite the fact that it’s easier than ever to serve papers digitally, that doesn’t remove the need for process servers. It’s not like solicitors can just hop straight onto WhatsApp to send over some legal docs.
You always need to try and effect service in person first, and that can be harder now that working patterns are less predictable.
Not only that, but you can’t just send a legal document to someone via a messaging app and then hope for the best.
If anything, process servers are needed now more than ever, especially those who fully understand all the regulations and laws about proper service, ensuring that there are no issues which could cause a court case to be thrown out.
Trained process servers can take the proper steps to attempt in-person service first, and then if needed, use the digital channels available and ensure that they have documents their steps taken to prove they have acted according to the necessary laws.
Conclusion
Solicitors hardly have it easy these days, and so they still absolutely need support where they can get it, particularly when it comes to process serving in liverpool.
Some things have changed for the better in recent years, but some are also harder, so getting the help of process serving experts can be crucial to staying on top of a mounting case load. At EJM Investigations, our private investigators are also highly experienced in process serving. Call on 01772 334700 if you want to know more.