As new technology revolutionizes every business, the field of legal practices won’t be far behind. Businesses have already felt a major difference in how they manage their data, speak with customers, and streamline mundane procedures, thanks to the assistance of artificial intelligence. As the technology continues to advance, more people are wondering how it will impact those in the field of process serving.
Some believe that artificial intelligence will be the demise of many traditional methods used by lawyers. At the same time, others see it simply as an aid that practitioners will now utilize to streamline their duties. Most experienced workers agree that even if it’s doubtful, the people providing the service will lose jobs.
Process serving has never just been the delivery of a paper trail. State laws must be obeyed, details noted, the process server must persevere to ensure documents are served, communicate efficiently with both sides of the action, and make smart choices when the unexpected arises.
Process Serving in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Edmond, Norman, and Moore, or for that matter, anywhere in Oklahoma, know that there is a technological side to their job, but many aspects just cannot be delegated.
Artificial intelligence will change our business for years to come, no doubt. Here are eight points about how some of the best in Oklahoma view its role going forward:
1. Artificial Intelligence Will Help Process Servers Work More Efficiently
One of the most significant impacts that AI will have on this industry is the way it could improve efficiency. All process servers will lose hours of their working week in dealing with admin tasks – there is paperwork, service requests, verifying addresses, scheduling, and keeping in touch with customers, etc. Whilst this can’t be avoided, hours spent on this are time not spent serving.
The artificial intelligence sector can greatly alleviate some of these repetitive processes.
For example, some software that relies on the technology may organize case files automatically and schedule priorities for urgency with notifications on approaching due dates. Rather than digging through mountains of data, servers may simply find that there are algorithms assisting with the organization of work within a matter of seconds.
Appointment scheduling could also be greatly simplified. AI systems might be programmed to pore over calendars and detect the most strategic service windows, slashing extra driving time throughout the course of a workday. Process servers wouldn’t need to shift their appointments manually again, but might rather use technology to streamline their schedules.
The service of the legal papers can also involve better client communications, since an AI program would assist in preparing status reports and updates to a client for service.
These efficiencies will make service of the legal papers very quick, but still won’t make up for the actual service work needed. The attorney still needs a body on the scene for verification of service as per Oklahoma statute, and to serve all the legal documents. The objective should never be to remove process servers from service of legal papers altogether, but to permit these professionals to utilize technology in order to put more time into service, and a lot less time into administrative and busy work.
2. Artificial Intelligence Will Make Skip Tracing More Powerful
One of the trickiest parts of process serving is finding people who don’t want to be found. They move around and don’t let anyone know their new address, and they switch jobs. They might crash with friends or family members for a while.
Some individuals deliberately try to evade service, believing they’ll avoid any real legal repercussions by holding things up for as long as possible. Professional process servers already employ several strategies for tracking people down, and artificial intelligence could give them a huge boost.
Future skip tracing tools will probably sift through far larger volumes of publicly available data faster than ever before. Artificial intelligence could recognize patterns of where people lived over time, linking information across multiple databases and hinting at locations that are worthy of closer inspection. Rather than hours poring over records, process servers could receive intelligent tips about promising leads.
A server can observe, talk, and research. Skip tracing requires a smart investigator with a lot of patience and skill. AI can help the computer locate leads, but humans will get the job done.
3. Smarter Route Planning Will Improve Productivity
We all know as process servers that it’s about time to get on the road! Planning our stops can require a strategic mix to ensure our assignments are covered throughout Oklahoma City, Edmond, Moore, Norman, Midwest City, Del City, and Tulsa. You know that traffic will differ at different times of day, that road construction will create a bottleneck somewhere, and that an individual may only be home between a particular set of times of the day.
Luckily, AI will be able to assist process servers in making intelligent choices BEFORE we even hit the highway.
Future AI routing software can factor in everything: current and predicted traffic, past service attempts, client meeting times, and travel distances. Instead of recommending the most direct route, AI can advise the most optimal path to maximize the number of successful serves. Less time driving means More time serving legal documents.
It could even suggest the optimum times to re-serve addresses, relying on past evidence to work out where’s best to call. Small advantages like this will result in process servers spending less time sitting in traffic and more time making serves. This will give the clients back the money they paid because documents can be served more quickly.
The process server who gets paid to make serves, and not sit in traffic, would be more successful. AI would therefore optimize their working day, without doing anything to the fundamental task of the law.
4. Clients Will Receive Better Communication Throughout the Process
Our modern client is an informed client. The person engaging our professional process servers hopes to have a clear idea of how their case is progressing. It can be for a civil dispute, eviction, divorce, custody action, business case, or any other situation. In the not-too-distant future, process servers will have incorporated AI into their operations.
They will have the capability of keeping clients apprised of their status in real-time. A process server’s client will perhaps receive automated text messages as we start on their job, when we attempt service, and when the service ends.
The clients who have engaged us to handle a complicated case, for instance, might receive automatic emails at the end of our day and be aware that our report and completed affidavit were sent out.
Instead of process servers taking the time to update each case in much of the same way over and over, they can instead utilize smart software to compile all of the activity in their cases into easily presentable briefs for client access on the web.
This fosters a higher level of transparency throughout the whole process. Our clients appreciate having knowledge of their case’s progression, their attorneys appreciate having records instantly accessible, and process servers appreciate fewer phone calls asking for status updates.
AI can bolster communication in a way that doesn’t lose the personal connection so valued by many clients. There are going to be instances where clients must have the opportunity to speak with the process server regarding their individual assignment.
5. Courts Will Continue Moving Toward Digital Processes
Over recent years, the legal industry has moved toward incorporating technology into its processes. Courts will accept filings electronically, law firms maintain their files on digital storage, and clients communicate with counsel in their private online client portals. AI software will further enhance this transition as preparing a service, affidavit, or even reviewing a service record is very feasible. It’s to verify and determine what might be missing, and before filing a document with the court.
Every jurisdiction will have a different approach for proving that they completed a legal service in the proper way. You still need to be aware of your court’s particular requirements and continue adhering to them. This is whether it be their format or the wording of your proofs of service and affidavit of service.
Of course, the paperwork will probably never end. However, even if AI could produce a fully automated process of legal service, it still won’t be able to confirm when the service actually occurs.
Your firsthand accounts, expert analysis, and documentation are crucial in legal services and will be throughout. So those process servers who are embracing technology with their work ethic will be doing well.
6. Privacy and Ethical Responsibilities Will Become Even More Important
In addition to new capabilities, however, technology carries new responsibilities. Artificial intelligence is fueled by information, and process servers consistently confront highly sensitive information of individuals. Information like names, addresses, lawsuit paperwork, financial disputes, and sensitive family matters.
We have always felt it was our responsibility to keep that information secure. In an age of Artificial Intelligence, our duty to ensure privacy will only become more profound. Process serving companies and individuals will need to maintain strict data protection while taking advantage of the tools at their disposal.
7. Process Servers Will Need to Continue Learning New Skills
Even in its earliest days, the industry hasn’t stood still. New technology has always changed the way process servers do their jobs. Once, most process servers focused on paper records only. For much of the industry today, those records have now become fully digitized.
This is just another step in the journey. Top process servers know learning never ends, and they also know that future process servers need to align with the new AI-enabled technologies. Technologies like scheduling software, AI research tools, online reporting services, and so much more.
Of course, they’ll have to keep up with new rules of procedure and changing legislative demands. The more you learn on the job, the better your future in the profession. If you are someone who spends time learning new devices and systems, you will run faster than others.
Technology isn’t able to supersede the classic qualities of an efficient process server, though. Your eyes need training. Your communication abilities need refining. You must have a degree of patience. You must have impeccable judgment. Your work needs to be perfect.
The future is for process servers who have what it takes in tradition and use that technology.
8. Human Judgment Will Continue Defining Successful Process Serving
The prediction I see above all is what does not change. AI cannot replace human discretion. We as service professionals have all had jobs that, let’s just say, call for ingenuity, creativity, and a quick turnaround.
Such scenarios include: an individual who won’t answer the door, two different family members providing the opposite story, a house that “looks occupied” yet yields no signs of recent activity, or the like.
We consider, or perhaps ignore depending on the situation, weather conditions, neighbor issues, brief, unexpected chats with passers-by, and so on. There is absolutely nothing that AI, as of now, can do that will cause it to step onto someone’s front porch and judge whether the service has reached completion. It can’t identify minute, telltale behavior. It can’t communicate with people on our level to engender goodwill.
And, it absolutely cannot react to any situation in which tensions flare, adapting and evolving in real-time. Those tasks should come down to skilled individuals. For instance, professional process servers know that their duties are not just to drive to a destination listed on a map. They are responsible for paying attention. Also, they have to abide by the letter of the law.
They have to safeguard the rights of all individuals concerned. While some elements of that rests on technology, it will not replace it entirely. Indeed, many of Oklahoma’s best process servers are of the opinion that the rise of artificial intelligence, while not replacing human process servers, will prove to be a very useful addition to their work. Indeed, much in the same way that mobile apps have already become as essential in a process server’s professional arsenal as cell phones and GPS devices, AI can truly facilitate more efficient work.
Final Thoughts
There remain many jobs left that AI won’t somehow affect, and process serving sits on that list. New and emerging tech will continue to streamline scheduling, communication, document management, investigative work, and many other business processes. With technology, the average process server will likely get better and better at serving his or her client.
However, the process server’s role will never change. Professionalism, persistence, legal knowledge, and good old-fashioned common sense will still make every job a successful one. Our process servers must still be adept at finding people, following procedures, reporting, and respectfully handling business with everyone involved.
AI will undoubtedly change how work goes in process serving. It will certainly simplify many facets of the field. It won’t substitute the professional’s duty to serve documents correctly. Nor can it safeguard due process, nor guarantee accuracy. The truth is, the legal industry continues to change. The companies that invest in both new tech and professional talent have the upper hand in whatever comes next.
