When Lawyers Hire Private Investigators
Attorneys oftentimes rely on other professionals in order to best serve clients. Indeed, lawyers may need to consult with accountants on certain matters, and attorneys may also need the opinion of physicians for some cases. There are also certain situations when lawyers hire private investigators to ensure that their clients are getting the best service possible.
Service of Process
One important situation when lawyers hire private investigators is when locating individuals to serve process. After a lawsuit has been filed, the party filing the case usually needs to personally provide copies of the litigation papers on the other party to the litigation. Oftentimes, it can be difficult to locate parties who need to be served. In fact, sometimes parties try to make it difficult for them to be found so that the other party has challenges serving them with the papers and moving the litigation forward.
A private investigator can help find people who need to be served with legal papers. Indeed, these professionals often have access to databases that can help produce addresses at which parties can be found. Moreover, private investigators can travel to locations and do some research about the whereabouts of people to be served. Because finding some people for service of process can require substantial leg work, it oftentimes pays to hire a trained professional.
Interviewing Witnesses
Another time when lawyers hire private investigators is when witnesses need to be interviewed. Sometimes, it is not enough for a witness to be interviewed over the phone. People are far more likely to be accurate and truthful if they are interviewed in person rather than through the phone or other remote means. In addition, if someone is interviewed in person, there is the possibility that they will sign a statement, which can be useful to legal matters.
It is oftentimes more efficient for private investigators to interview witnesses rather than attorneys themselves. Private investigators often charge less money than attorneys, and they are better able at memorializing notes than attorneys. Moreover, people have more of a tendency to reveal less information if they are speaking to an attorney, so private investigators may be able to discover more information about a matter.
Cybersecurity
Dealing with cybersecurity issues is another situation when lawyers hire private investigators. Clients may approach clients for issues dealing with cybersecurity. This can include possible intrusions onto their computer networks, recovering software or hardware of former employees, and other matters. Lawyers may need to secure the services of skilled cybersecurity professionals in order to best solve a client’s issue.
Many private investigation firms have cybersecurity expertise. This is partially because many of the investigations conducted by private investigators involves cybersecurity matters. Private investigators can help image hardware that may have been compromised, take a look at a client’s network security, and complete other tasks. Since lawyers already have solid connections with private investigators, it oftentimes makes sense to have lawyers be the point of contact between clients and private investigators. Keeping lawyers involved in the private investigators’ work may also help ensure that the work performed by private investigators is protected by the attorney-client privilege and work product protection.
Surveillance
Another common situation when lawyers hire private investigators is to conduct surveillance on personal injury plaintiffs. It is common in personal injury lawsuits for plaintiffs to make numerous claims about their inability to perform activities because of injuries they suffered because of the incident at issue in this case. To prove whether or not a plaintiff can perform certain activities, private investigators sometimes take pictures and video recordings of plaintiffs in public to demonstrate if they are truly impeded by their supposed injuries. Moreover, private investigators may be able to acquire video recordings and photographs taken by others which can demonstrate if the plaintiff actually has limitations. Of course, private investigators need to operate under the supervision of lawyers when completing this task to make sure they are lawfully operating to discovery evidence relevant to a lawsuit.
Locating Assets
One important circumstance when lawyers hire private investigators is when locating assets of a person or business. After a lawyer has obtained a judgment, they need to apply that judgment to assets that a debtor may have. However, it is difficult to determine where the debtor has bank accounts, real estate, and other assets, and without this information, it is difficult to recover assets. Private investigators oftentimes have resources that can track down where an individual has bank accounts, and possibly even find out how much money is in these bank accounts. Moreover, private investigators can run background checks which may reveal that someone owns real estate, cars, or other assets that can be seized in order to satisfy a judgement or serve another purpose. Individuals and businesses oftentimes try to hide assets if they are expecting their money to be seized, and private investigators can ensure that they are unable to obscure their assets to the lawyer seeking to seize them.
The Rothman Law Firm has connections with multiple well-regarding private investigation companies, and we have had much success using private investigators to achieve the goals of clients. If you are looking for a New York and New Jersey attorney to help with a legal issue that may require a private investigator, please feel free to contact The Rothman Law Firm to request a free consultation.