Skip tracing (“tracing”) and basic asset searching ("searches") require skills, knowledge, and ability that can be learned. Paralegals and Legal Assistants, for example, already have most of these skills. The learning in this program will evolve from listening to lectures (very short ones, I assure you), reading, participating in Socratic learning, and conducting practical exercises. The last two elements are closely related.
You will learn not only Fairfax County and Prince William County Skip Tracing, but how to retrieve information from Nationwide sources as well, along with how to conduct basic asset searches.
During Socratic teaching, I will pose a question or a problem. You may either (a) answer the question by explaining, clarifying, or discussing a solution, or (b) address the problem by setting forth your firm’s requirements and sharing goals and objectives. We will probe the nature of the issue at hand, and examine consequences, concepts, and logic that could lead to the desired solution.
The Big Six
There are six classical questions that every researcher must consider; if you are a paralegal or lawyer you probably know them already: Who What When Where How Why. You will start out knowing whom you are seeking. The educative process in this program will teach you the logic and reasoning necessary to uncover answers to the remaining five questions. The alternative to this educative process is the training process. A pure training approach would show you what information sources are available (as in “Here is a list of 500 web sites; go for it!”) and how to use them (first, look for a current phone number).
Tests, Guarantees, and a Caveat
There will be a pre-test and a post test. There will be a time limit of fifteen minutes on each test. This time limit is in no way related to the time that you may eventually spend on live searches. It is a device designed to respect billable time for your law firm. Remember that you can never guarantee that you will locate any person or assets. The person may know how to avoid detection, be living with a series of friends or relatives, and may be buying disposable phones. Likewise, the person may have no attachable assets, be in bankruptcy, or may have transferred assets to another person. (By the way, this transfer could have been a violation of Federal law: 18 USC 152, 1956; 11 USC 548: fraudulent conveyance or fraudulent transfer. See also Asset Searching, second paragraph )
Important point: Never accept a request for information that is not in writing. Never.
Support
I will be available to support you for one year after this program. I will do so by email and or by telephone. At my own discretion, I may ask you to fax me a copy of the Request for Information so that I can better assist you.
My Time is Your Time
Instruction should take place between ten AM and three PM, Tuesday through Thursday. (I’m thinking that you probably have other things to do, as well as contend with afternoon traffic.)
Get Away From Your Office
The training site should not be in your office. (I've been there; done that -- there are always interruptions, and that is not the way to study and learn.) The training site should be in a training room in Fairfax, or other sites in Northern Virginia. PITORRI AND ASSOCIATES, LLC will book reservations in a very nice environment.
