Why Third-Party Process Servers Provide Better Service

If your practice involves litigation, one of the best ways to gain an advantage over your competition is to hire a third-party process server. If you’ve been practicing for a long time, you know how frustrating it is when service is delayed because the defendant is out of state. Most local process servers just don’t have contacts to quickly facilitate service in other parts of the country. They just bounce the problem back to you or pass your papers on to a random unvetted provider and send you a large bill for out of state service. For complex litigation with multiple defendants, this can cause delays and expenditures that you’ll have a hard time explaining to your client. That’s why savvy 21st century attorneys are using high-quality third-party process servers like ABC Legal to streamline their litigation practice and provide better service to their clients.

Third-Party Process Servers Save You Time

Every client wants their papers served yesterday, and isn’t interested in hearing excuses about delays. You’ll be thrilled to know that a third-party process server using advanced technology can have your orders completed in about a minute. Even better, from the moment your order is placed, you’ll receive real time updates on the status of service. This means that you or your staff won’t need to keep calling up the process server and asking if service has been completed. ABC Legal employs the latest technology to keep you informed every step of the way.  The ABC Legal dashboard can be customized to meet the needs of low volume, high volume, and rapidly growing firms. Our software can quickly predict the probability of success of service, making success on a first attempt more likely.  When the first attempt is not successful, it will instantly “skip trace” and attempt the best in-venue address after every unsuccessful service attempt. Tasks that used to take hours now take seconds with automation for e-filing, skip tracing, venue selection, data entry, and appearance counsel scheduling. For small firms every moment counts and clients expect more personal attention. You’ll never find yourself worrying whether your papers have been served ever again, making it possible to take on more complex matters without a large increase in staff.

Third-Party Process Servers Save You Money

When you work with a third-party process server that has relationships throughout the country, you don’t have to pay extra for out of state service because all of the process servers are working in their own jurisdiction. If you work on a contingency fee, it means you’ll be able to take pressure off your cash flow by reducing the amount of money that you need to lay out and get reimbursed for many years later. Clients paying expenses out of their retainer will appreciate the lower costs when they see their bill, which will reflect well on you. Employing a third-party process server with high tech software and relationships throughout the country will also save you and your staff time, which can be better spent on other tasks. You might even be able to reduce your staff. Third-party process servers also have the volume of business that allows them to charge the lowest rates for their services and include more in their packages. ABC Legal helps you control costs by including skip tracing, notary, and mileage, so you don’t end up with a long, complicated, and bloated bill. 

Third-Party Process Servers Have Experts In Every Jurisdiction

Service requirements can be very intricate and vary tremendously from state to state. Your local process server is familiar with the rules and regulations in your area, but probably doesn’t have a clue about how to serve defendants properly in other jurisdictions. ABC Legal has more than 2,000 process servers in all 50 states,  and each and every one is an expert in service in their jurisdiction. If personal service is required, our process servers will make sure that there is proof of personal service that satisfies the local requirements. Substituted service will only be used when it’s acceptable. Service errors can not only waste time and money, but can potentially result in a case being dismissed and liability for malpractice. That’s why it’s so important to make sure that your papers are being served by a competent professional that’s licensed and experienced in their jurisdiction. You may only have to serve a defendant in Montana once in your entire career, but it has to be done right.

Third-Party Process Servers Help You Simplify Operations

Back in the day, every firm had at least one calendar clerk and large firms often had hundreds of staff just to manage the court calendar, making sure that suit papers were getting filed and served. Large firms are reporting that they’ve been able to slash their calendar clerk staff in half simply by utilizing ABC Legal’s dashboard to manage their filing and serving of documents. For small firms this could mean a reduction of overhead that could be a huge boost to the bottom line, and for sole practitioners this can allow you or your staff to spend more time with clients, instead of doing clerical work. Depending on the volume of litigation, many firms have been able to cut their calendar department down to one person. This is possible because attorneys and paralegals can work directly with the dashboard, making a large calendar department an anachronism. This also enables attorneys and paralegals to work more easily from home, on the road, or while waiting around at court. The entire firm’s calendar can be available anywhere there’s an internet connection.

Third-Party Process Servers Can Even Help Your Serve Papers Internationally

Even if your practice is domestic and most of your cases are in your home state, you never know when the time will come that you may need to serve papers internationally. ABC Legal has relationships with process servers in 76 countries including Canada, Mexico, Australia, Belarus, Malaysia, South Africa, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Kenya. Your papers will be properly served under the following conventions:

• The Hague Service Convention
• Inter-American Convention on Letters Rogatory
• Letter Rogatory, non-convention countries

ABC Legal is trusted by the United States Department of Justice, and is proud to be contracted as their exclusive central authority for all foreign service of process coming into the United States. You can count on the English-speaking expert staff and proprietary Legal Process as a Service (LPaaS) software at ABC Legal to help you easily and inexpensively serve defendants in many parts of the World.