Forecasting the Future - E-Service - Part 1 

Recently I was asked by Seth Davis of ServeNow.com for my thoughts on the future of the process service industry with particular attention to the impact of e-service.  Unfortunately his time frame was rather tight and, due to work and family obligations, I wasn't able to put my thoughts together in time.  But I found his questions intriguing and have decided to take them up here.  So the next several posts will all deal with this subject.  Here are the questions Seth put to me.

1. At what rate do you think courts have been moving toward accepting e-service of process as an alternative to the traditional method? Do you think it will be two years, five years, a decade, etc., or ever?
2. Based on the legal developments you’ve been monitoring, how likely do you think it is that process servers will lose a lot of business to e-service of process? Any estimate on how much business it could take away?
3. What do you think are some determining factors about whether e-service will be an accepted practice in states? Are there any reasons why you think e-service of process will fail to gain widespread use as an alternative to live process servers?
4. Many process servers are dedicated to opposing e-service of process at the moment because they fear that it will take away a lot of business. If it does gain traction as a common method of service of process, can you think of some ways that process servers could adapt their business models to accommodate it?
5. Based on the cases you’ve examined what are some flaws with e-service of process that courts recognize? In other words, what are some limitations that e-service of process has as opposed to traditional service of process?
6. Do you think there’s still a window of time open to process servers where they can fight the advance of e-service of process, or would their time be better spent pondering how to adapt?
7. What do you think process servers can do to prepare themselves for the widespread use of e-service?


As usually happens when anyone attempts to forecast the future my attempt will almost certainly be proven wrong.  There are simply too many factors to take into account and most of them are unknown to me.  So I want to make clear that my thoughts on these matters will change as future history unfolds before us.  Still, it is fun to ponder such ideas.

Comments (0)
Robin Mullins July 21st, 2010 10:14:25 AM