How To Revitalize The Process Service Industry: The Need for A National Standard

Author: The Process Server Center | PROServerCENTER is a legal professional organization whose mission is to set a national standard for the process service industry in the United States. 
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​Once upon a time...Back in year 2012 a man we are going to name John Smith woke up in his tastefully furnished home. It was promising to be a beautiful summer weekend in Charleston, North Carolina, and John was looking forward to spending time with his family playing games in their backyard...

First things first, John Smith was in the habit of checking his emails in the morning and it was then that he saw a message from his local bank, advising him of a recent important notice related to his account. John logged in and carefully read the notice. In fact, he read it several times. It notified him that a New York equipment leasing company, he used to do business with several years ago, has won a judgment for non-payment against him, and there was a court order to garnish his wages… John Smith felt lost... He did not know anything about the judgment, the court order, the garnishment… His finances would be in jeopardy. John knew he had to place a call to his attorney immediately… He did not know this was coming… He has never been notified… Though rarely service of process brings you good news, John Smith would have definitely preferred to know in advance… He would have rather been served with the legal papers...
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Do you know that according to the National Center for State Courts, process service is one of the top challenges confronting the justice system? Consistent with fundamental notions of due process and fairness, a person must receive proper notice of any judicial action in which he or she is made a party of. Yet process service is often a neglected step in a judicial proceeding. Proper service on a party and a correct affidavit of service filed with the court ensure that the parties to the action have been notified as prescribed by the court system.

Legal market analysis conducted by the Process Server Center shows that more than 87% of attorneys, paralegals and legal managers are not satisfied with their current process server. Service of process is certainly no fun! If not completed or done properly, insufficient service of process may result in a delay, breach of duty or termination of an otherwise successful trial. It could become costly.

Among legal professionals, process service is often associated with headaches! What usually happens is that either you or your legal team spend valuable time chasing process servers to check on the status of legal documents being served or to obtain a completed affidavit on time for a court hearing. Even when filed with the court, a defendant may still appear and challenge the sufficiency of the service or the veracity of the return. Your headaches from improper service of process are mounting and your legal team spends valuable resources to ensure compliance and due diligence.

Among process servers, service of process is also associated with frustrations! Most of the time clients provide very scarce information when contacting a process server for a new job. The information a client usually seeks is how much a process server would charge for serving legal documents in his/her area. Hardly any further details are provided, such as originating court, type of legal documents, methods of service allowed by the court. It is rare that a client would offer any other information pertaining to the person to be served, such as when he/she is usually home; does he work?; how is the address verified? Lack of information provided by the client and lack of details oftentimes lead to incorrect service of process or unnecessary attempts without proper due diligence.

Factors that lead to inconsistencies in the quality of service of process
Just because process service is simple, it does not mean it is easy...  A nationwide survey, conducted by the Process Server Center, shows that more than 89% of process servers struggle to retain their clients in the long-run, while 87% of legal professionals are ready to change their process server. Competition is fierce in service of process and every day new people become process servers to take the place of others. Years of working with process servers throughout the United States and interviewing lawyers, legal assistants and paralegals have helped us identify some of the key factors that lead to inconsistencies in the quality of process service:

• Ease of entry: The process service industry attracts people from many different backgrounds, educational levels and experience. People are primarily drawn by the ease of entry into becoming a process server, and the learn-as-you-go approach is applied most often when training and getting prepared to be a process server. The job requirements include a high school diploma and a reliable vehicle with the required insurance. Very few states have a certification or licensing requirement to become a process server, but even they do not have a hands-on training that reflects the reality of a process server’s work responsibilities.
• Number of process servers per area: The ease of entry into process service leads to a consistent increase in the number of process servers, particularly in busy-for-service-of-process metropolitan areas. Such increase leads to competition among process servers that is mostly based on fees rather than on experience, knowledge and reliability.
• Rules and Regulations: There are many rules and regulations that govern the process service industry. There are federal level rules, state level rules, county level rules, and even very small courts level rules. Many states have further developed their own licensing requirements that widely vary between states. There are also law firms and solo practicing attorneys who read and interpret laws pertaining to service of process in different ways. All of that, coupled with the variety of backgrounds and educational levels and experience of process servers, creates confusion within the industry, which leads to poor results and a poor image of the industry. Oftentimes process servers are so focused on trying to learn or keep abreast of updates in legislation in their own state that they cannot follow simple instructions or have a hard time keeping up with completing affidavits on time.
• Directories: Currently in the United States there are several associations on both the national and state level that attract process servers as a form of marketing platform for their services. The primary focus of these associations is to provide relevant rules and regulations updates and organize process servers to petition for or against newly introduced legislation as it pertains to the process service industry. On the directory side, there are minimum or no requirements to join these associations. There is no formal requirement for training or education; and no feedback or reviews from clients.
• Competition among process servers: The ease of entry into the process service profession leads to an increase in the number of process servers per given area. In general, competition is great for any industry. However, too much competition has its own negative aspects. According to research by Michael W. Toffel at the Harvard School of Business, “many firms are likely to bend the rules if doing so will keep their customers from leaving for a rival” (Customer-driven Misconduct: How Competition Corrupts Business Practices, Harvard Research, 2012). An example of the negative effect of too much competition in process service is the infamous sewer service that has led to many otherwise successful lawsuits being dismissed.
• Lack of training: Oftentimes, process server forums on social media are approached by new process servers looking to find a way to learn the business and get trained. The usual advice from fellow process servers is to find a local competitor and ask to work for them for a year or two in order to learn how to serve legal documents. Available educational materials through industry associations are usually in the form of publications of the full legislation per state or on the federal level. Such publications are too narrow in scope (they pertain only to a state) and their language is full of legal jargon difficult to be understood even by attorneys. Modern online educational sessions offered by state and national associations are often presented by attorneys who mostly read and interpret state laws as they pertain to process service, again in a language and format that is difficult to grasp by most process servers.

All of these factors lead to inconsistencies in the quality of service of process and to the mounting confusion among clients who need to hire a process server. The lack of a meaningful review process, the ease of entry into the profession (apart from a handful of states requiring certification or licensing) and the increasing number of process servers, both full-time and part-time, lead to fierce competition based mostly on the difference in the fees process servers charge for serving legal documents. There is nothing else (except a word of mouth reference) that a client can rely on in order to select and hire a process server who is knowledgeable, reliable and consistent.

Need for National Standard for Process Service
Based on the surveys mentioned above, the current approach to finding a professional process server frequently leads to inconsistent quality of service of process, inefficient performance, low pay and poor image of process servers in general. The Process Server Center aims to clear the confusion within the industry and help provide better solutions for both process servers and legal professionals through specific, actionable solutions, the development of relevant training for process servers and the administration of PROServer LIST, the first nationwide exclusive Directory for Certified and Pre-Screened Process Servers.
 
There is a definite need to revolutionize the process service industry in a meaningful way, different from legislation imposed rules and regulations that often confuse and cause hardships to industries. There is a clear demand to implement a National Standard for Process Service built on the basis of the very needs of process servers. There is strong call for new and modern solutions for:

• Training that ultimately helps a process server do his job
• Increasing the entry requirements for process servers into this profession
• Hands-on Directories with relevant reviews and feedback
• Continuous education for both process servers and clients who hire process servers

The implementation of a National Standard for Process Service will help legal teams:

• Eliminate headaches from improper service of process
• Save time and money due to delays in lawsuits because of incorrect process service or late affidavits of service
• Increase consistency of the quality of process service
• Eliminate hassles from improper service of process
• Advance process servers' training and knowledge
• Improve accountability among process servers and prevent sewer service of process
• Increase transparency of the quality of work process servers provide
• Award process servers for their service quality with increased service fees
• Change the competition factor among process servers from fee based to quality based

 
Even in light of the increasing pace of technological advances, personal service of process remains “personal” and it is still the most reliable way to ensure compliance with constitutionally imposed due process of notice to a defendant and the opportunity to be heard. Without proper service of process a court has no jurisdiction over a defendant and may not proceed. Understanding the importance and weight of service of process is essential to the outcome of a lawsuit. Knowing your process server is imperative and selecting a process server must be on the basis of experience, education and reliability, not on the service fees he/she charges to serve your legal documents. It is indeed time to revolutionize the process service industry in the United States, to advance the profession, to clear the image of so many really good and professional process servers who lack the proper tools and platforms to distinguish themselves and truly show their high professionalism.

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