How Lawyers Get Referrals From Private Investigators
In an increasingly competitive legal services industry, law firms of all sizes are looking for a commercial advantage. By developing relationships with other professionals, such as accountants, solicitors have benefitted from the referral of clients who require assistance with legal issues.
Lawyers who practice in commercial, family, workplace, estates and criminal law have a potential untapped source of work from a less-conventional channel – referrals from private investigators. Roughly 50% of a general private investigator’s clients are involved or becoming involved in legal disputes. Some of these clients are unrepresented or disillusioned with their existing lawyer when they approach investigators and welcome referrals to competent, local legal practitioners.
So, how does a lawyer get referrals from an investigation firm? Well, in the course of engaging an investigator to perform investigative work, lawyers not only give their clients a strategic advantage, they also build a relationship with the investigator and demonstrate their level of competency in managing clients’ needs. An investigator wants to pass his or her client on to a safe pair of hands and by working with a lawyer, a private eye can infer that his or her instructing legal practitioner will diligently manage a referred client’s matter.
Whereas once private investigators assisted lawyers in a select few areas of the law, such as the investigation of insurance claims, these days investigators are increasingly likely to have broad-based expertise. Just as investigators educate themselves about the law, it behoves lawyers to learn about the investigative services on offer to their clients.
What are the different types of private investigations?
You’ve probably heard about services such as background checks, surveillance and missing person investigations. Did you know however that professional investigation firms also provide digital forensics, legal & business services, family investigations, handwriting forensics, bug sweeps and more?
Background checks reveal details about a subject person’s business or personal life and are a great way to learn more at the beginning of a relationship or when doubts about the subject arise.
Surveillance involves following a subject person and documenting his or her activities. This can be useful in commercial, workplace or family disputes where there are concerns about the behaviour of the subject.
Digital forensics is the analysis of hardware, software and online data by an expert so that it can be presented as evidence or so that questions about the data can be answered objectively.
When evidence, intelligence gathering or advice in a legal or business investigation is required, an experienced private eye or forensic expert can often help.
Family members involved in disputes and disagreements, whether relating to family law proceedings or not, can often benefit from the objective information provided by an investigator.
Handwriting and signature forensics entails the analysis of writing or signatures to prove authorship.
Bug sweeps enable the detection of covert listening or recording devices installed in a home, office or vehicle.