Why Your Process Server May Be Letting You Down

by Nelson Tucker, M.P.S.

CEO, Process Service Network



This is not an indictment of your process server, but rather, is intended to help you help your process server do a more effective job for your firm.  Please allow me to explain.

 

Many process servers are highly trained, capable and effective – some are not!  You know if you have a good one based on their performance.  All of us who provide legal support services can always use additional training and acquiring of new resources.  Finding the additional training and on-going education can be difficult for some process servers to find.  Here are some helpful tips that you can pass along to your process server.

 

Develop creative ways to get people served – the days of simply knocking on the front door of a defendant or witness and expecting them to open the portal and accept the documents are a thing of the past.  People have become more cynical of a stranger at the door, especially at night. Some techniques utilized by many process servers include:

 

·         Wearing their ID card in a lanyard around their neck – people inside the residence may peek through a window or peephole and see what appears to be identification and will be more likely to open the door;

·         Displaying their process server badge (in states where allowed) when a person inside looks out to see who is at the door;

·         Leaving a “Notice” on the front door of the residence if persons inside do not respond after knocking.  Process Service Network developed a notice that advises the defendant that they have 24 hours to contact the process server to make arrangements for service or legal consequences may follow.  The result is an 89% call-in rate and 100% service completion.  We are pleased to share the notice with interested parties;

·         Include a special notice, with the appropriate laws of the state where service is being made, on top of the service documents.  This one-page notice describes the optional methods of service (substituted service, posting, service by publication, etc.) and educates the person being served that personal service may not be the exclusive method of service.  This is especially effective when performing a substituted service;

·         If serving a defendant at work, call them while outside in the parking lot and advise that you are a process server, that you have legal documents for them, and you do not wish to cause them embarrassment by serving them at work.  One hundred percent of the defendants will either come outside to accept or direct you to the reception area where they will meet to accept the documents.

 

Serve people the way you would expect to be served – the movies and TV have always portrayed process servers as villains who slap a subpoena on the chest of a witness and proclaim, “You’ve been served!”  Bad idea.  It has been said that you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.  True. You can serve more people with kindness than with rudeness.  The question a process server should ask themselves is “How would I like to be served if someone were serving me?”  The answer is with dignity and professionalism.

 

No doubt, your process server is proficient in modern techniques and current laws.  These suggestions can only make him or her more efficient.

 

If we can assist with hard-to-serve cases domestically or international services anywhere in the world, please contact us at nelson@processnet1.com .

 

Nelson Tucker is CEO of Process Service Network, LLC in the Los Angeles area where his firm has provided legal support services since 1978.  He has authored 3 books on service of process and has personally trained over 1700 process servers and investigators nationwide.  Nelson may be reached by email at nelson@processnet.com  or by visiting his website at www.processnet1.com .  He is active with the American Bar Association, Los Angeles County Bar Association, Ventura County Bar Association, and the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.