The world looks a bit different at the moment due to COVID19 and a lot of businesses and industries have had to adapt accordingly. This has been no different for us, which is why we want to talk about what process serving looks like in a pandemic to give other private investigators some advice on what you can be changing in these times.
Most of what we are discussing will directly relate to operating during and after the lockdown periods.
When lockdown first occurred, the court stayed open, although with reduced staff, functioning and capacity (due to social distancing). With the courts remaining open, so too did our team. We continued to process, serve, obtain justice and attend to urgent matters, whilst still following government health guidelines.
However, there were a few things that we kept note of:
Different states having different policies.
As we operate Australia wide, we had to ensure that we met the guidelines of each specific state. We have members of our team within the different states, so had to ensure that they were adhering to their state governments policies.
More lawyers working from home.
The government required that if ‘you can work from home, you must work from home’. Meaning that a multitude of lawyers began to outsource their process serving to not only adhere to the government, but for their own personal safety.
Defendants were at home.
In Melbourne specifically, more defendants and witnesses were home due to quarantine, and therefore easier to locate + serve. This did not mean we had to locate them, it just meant that their movements were more limited.
We placed a greater level of safety onto our team.
We ensured that our team was hygienically and physically safe at all times. We did this through masks, gloves, hand sanitiser, social distancing and PPE (personal protective equipment).
We continue to serve throughout Australia, but particularly in Melbourne, our team are more aware of social distancing when serving.
However, despite all these things, many people in the business and political sectors are talking about the fact that the world has changed and can never go back to the way it was.
With that being said, what practices will we be taking with us moving forward?
We predict that the world, in regards to the way we perceive and implement good hygiene, will never be the same. Now, although some may think that this is a small thing, for us it’s not.
We come across a vast range of people from all walks of life, and although in a post-COVID19 world we may not have to worry about spreading a virus like that, it has caused us to reevaluate the way our team operates in health and safety. We implore all private investigators to consider their current safety methods. Whether it’s hygiene or physical safety, this pandemic has taught us much about both.
Although, moving forward our greatest advice is aimed towards lawyers, solicitors and those who require skip tracing, process serving and debt recovery.
You need to evaluate whether it’s worth your time, money and personal safety on doing your own process serving. How long does it take to process serve and locate the witness? Could you channel this time in a different direction? Could you channel this into seeking more clients or spending time with the current clients you have?
Now is the perfect time to go through older files where you’ve lost contact with a defendant, and send them to us.
This pandemic has taught us all lots of things, about how we need to adapt and change, but mostly on where our businesses focus is – and we want to encourage you all to do the same. Ask yourself, where is your business’ focus? Has it changed?
If you’re a lawyer or need process serving done for you or your business, then perhaps it’s time to consider outsourcing.
Down Under Investigations currently offer a ‘No locate, No fee’ skip tracing service to ALL lawyers and law firms. If we don’t find a missing defendant or witness, you pay nothing. Our price for a successful locate will not exceed $495.00. So, if we can’t locate your witness or defendant, there’s no fee. If we do, your cost will be less than $495.00 guaranteed.
For more information, you can contact us at 1300 849 007.