Guide to Investigative Research Software

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

The following in an excerpt from “The Ultimate Guide to Investigative Research Software” by Jared Correia, Esq. Click here to download the full 24-page guide.

It’s clearer than ever that efficient law firms make the most money. In fact, a recent study showed that even a small increase in utilization rate (less than .5%) can allow a law firm to more than double its revenue in 5 years’ time. In addition to making you salivate, that may also lead you to wonder how to unlock the hidden efficiency in your own law firm. One key to getting more efficient is to acquire and use the right technology: technology that is intuitive and easy-to-use, right from the start. “

“The Ultimate Guide To Investigative Research Software for Law Firms” will dive into the modern ways law firms can utilize public and private records to complete the “fact-finding” side of their legal research. No matter what practice area, no matter what size law firm, investigative research software can provide you the missing information you need, when you need it.

Investigative research software for family law

In the second episode of the ninth season of ‘The Simpsons’, titled ‘The Principal and the Pauper’, Seymour Skinner is discovered to be an imposter. Bart and Lisa’s principal’s real name is Armin Tamzarian. The real Seymour Skinner was a sergeant Tamzarian met in the Army. When the real Skinner went missing during the Vietnam War, and was presumed dead, Tamzarian stole his identity, and achieved Skinner’s lifelong dream of becoming an elementary school principal. (Unbelievably, ‘Mad Men’ would later recycle this storyline for its main character.) The jig comes up when the real Seymour Skinner returns more than 20 years later, to reclaim his life.

Of course, had the town of Springfield utilized an effective public records search tool, like Tracers, Tamzarian would have been found out well before he ever got started. The good news is that you, erstwhile family lawyer, do have access to such software.

Family law is a broad and wide-ranging practice area; you might even say that family law practice contains multitudes. Just think of the various and janky combinations you can put together to build a family law practice. There’s estate planning, probate administration, elder law, divorce, child custody, mediation, collaborative law. All very different disciplines, with some only tangentially related to each other — as evidenced by the slim nexus between estate planning and divorce law, which practice areas some law firms run simultaneously.

But, whichever practice area a family law attorney focuses on, there is a need for a solid public records researching tool. Add to that fact that the majority of solo and small firm attorneys in the United States either concentrate in family law, or include it as part of a larger practice, and a solution like Tracers is massively beneficial to a wide swath of law firms in practice today. Now, regardless of the specific branch of family law in which a law firm specializes, there are two unique needs in relation to records research that nearly every family law firm has got to access, as follows: The family law practitioner often needs tools to locate assets; and, she also needs to uncover bad behavior. So, let’s see just how that is accomplished using the right records retrieval system.

In some cases, like contentious divorces, or throughout the management of a fraught probate, assets can be difficult to track down. Sometimes those assets are being hidden (perhaps by a philandering husband), or they may just be difficult to locate (if someone has passed away, and paperwork has gone missing). But, even if you’re merely creating an estate plan for your clients, and there isn’t much consternation at all, it’s valuable to understand the asset collection you’re working with — even if your clients don’t. For a family law attorney to effectively represent her client or an estate, the first step is usually to know what you have: it’s a question of how you go about gathering lost or mislaid assets. Well, in the construction of a complete asset list, your best friend is Tracers software.

Tracers can locate vehicles, houses or other real property information — including business property and associated assets. When family and money are involved, feelings run high, and there is a continuing incentive to reduce the value of one’s financial prospectus to something less than it actually is. But, with Tracers, bad actors can no longer hide what they own. Use the Tracers program to discover hidden or rediscover lost assets, including high-end toys, like aircraft and watercraft, so that you can make your client whole (again). Tracers gives you the treasure map and marks the ‘X’ — it’s the first place you should start your asset search.

Download full guide.

In this full 24-page guide, you’ll learn about:

• Choosing the right records retrieval software.
• Investigative research tools to complete your legal research.
• Using information and data to uncover missing information.
• Much more!

About the Author

Jared Correia, Esq.
Red Cave Law Firm Consulting

Jared D. Correia, Esq. is the Founder and CEO of Red Cave Law Firm Consulting, which offers subscription-based law firm business management consulting and technology services for solo and small law firms. Red Cave also works with legal institutions and legal-facing corporations to develop programming and content. A former practicing attorney, Jared has been advising lawyers and law firms for over a decade. He is a regular presenter at local, regional and national events, including ABA TECHSHOW. He regularly contributes to legal publications, including his column, ‘Managing,’ for Attorney at Work, and his ‘Law Practice Confidential’ advice column for Lawyerist. Jared is the author of the American Bar Association publication ‘Twitter in One Hour for Lawyers’. He is the host of the Legal Toolkit podcast on Legal Talk Network. Jared also teaches for Concord Law School, Suffolk University Law School and Solo Practice University. He loves James Taylor, but respects Ron Swanson; and, he tries to sneak Rolos when no one is looking.