subject: Private Detectives Getting Paid by Law Firms [print this page] Private Detectives Getting Paid by Law Firms
This article is not written to upset law firms it has been written because it has recently beendiscussed on Linkedin, it'sregarding law firms who instruct private detectives to undertake assignments such as process serving. Most private investigators will tell anyone that instructions fromsolicitors is a major part of their income and can prove to be good 'bread and butter' work and thatwe all welcome the work.
However, when it comes to the law firm paying the investigator's bill there can be problems, most detective companies are willing to wait one month for payment, if however, the law firms states that the work is funded through the Legal Service Commission (LSC) the investigator will expect to wait up to 90 days for payment, sometimes even longer. If the investigator is aware that it is LSC work and he/she is willing to wait for payment then this is not an issue.
However, lots of investigations companies do have major issues with law firms when it comes to paying invoices, the investigation company will do the job in a professional and discreet mannerand then duly invoice the client stating terms offourteen orthirty day more often than not. Thirty days can pass and the private detective has not received payment so he/she may call the instructing law firmto kindly ask why the invoice hasn't be settled. You can imagine how frustrating it is to hear a client of yours, who you have carried out instructions for on their behalf hear these mortal words "we haven't invoiced our client yet, when we have and we have received payment from them we will then settle your invoice". Now, in all honesty is this right, ethical or legal. Most private investigation companies in the UK are small companies consisting of 'one man bands' who work from home and can feel somewhat upset by such remarks. I wouldn't walk into a supermarket and fill my trolly with 150 of shopping and say to the checkout assistant "sorryI haven't been paid yet, when I have I will pay for shopping, bye". However, the private investigator is somewhat concerned of annoying the law firm about annoying them for the money in fear that they won't get any more work from the firm, so they sit back, bite their lips and wait and wait and wait.
North Court Investigations have in the past experienced such problems and very occasionally still do, we now havecertain procedures in placebefore we accept work from law firms, these are as follows: Phone rings, it ZYX Solicitors, they have documents to serve and require an affidavit as prove of service, we agree a price and verbally inform the solicitor our payment terms are 30 days from receipt of invoice. If the case is funded through LSC the solicitor then may say 'it's legally aided we will make sure we get payment to you as soon as possible' our response is 'it's irrelevant to us if it's LSC funded, will you accept our terms of 30 day?" if they say no we kindly thank them for their call but we will not be accepting the enquiry. If the solicitor agrees to the terms on the phone we simply ask them to confirm this in an email and include it in their letter of instruction. Since we have taken this stance and no longer afraid to say 'no' to solicitors we have found our cash flow has improved and we spend much less time chasing unpaid invoices. It also means we don't have to keep ringing the client requesting payment.
