Most attorneys use a private investigations service like that of Nickels private investigations to help with witness location. They do this because it is cheaper for the client to pay a private investigator than it is to pay the lawyer to locate and then interview a potential witness.

When a private investigator has found the witness with important information to a legal case then the lawyer will schedule a deposition for the witness. The deposition is a statement that the witness makes under oath. This statement can be either written or taped via a tape or video recorder and can be used in court. A deposition is very common especially when the witness can’t be in court because of an illness.

Most lawyers try to avoid depositions because they can be expensive. The court reporter has to be available to document questions and answers, and opposing council may also want to be available. This is why an attorney has to be careful and get the deposition from the correct source. He doesn’t want a deposition from an entire neighborhood when referring to a case involving an auto accident. He only wants the one witness that saw what happened, and that is why he hires a private investigator like Nickels private investigations to do the witness location for the case.

Let’s demonstrate when you need witness location services from the following case. Lets assume that there was a multi vehicle collision and the attorney suspects that one of the drivers was inebriated. He will call in a private investigator to locate any witnesses that can testify to the persons inebriation prior to getting into the car and driving.

The private investigator will use databases that are only available to law enforcement or to licensed investigators to locate these witnesses. Once he has located the witness, he will ask pertinent information and won’t exclude anything from the report. He will also document the interview with a digital recorder.

Of course, any investigator will inform the witness that he is recording the information, so it doesn’t get thrown out of court later, and that he is recording so that the interview goes quickly and he doesn’t have to write down so many notes. These are the types of questions Nickels investigations asks potential witnesses:

1. State your name 2. State time and date of interview 3. State that the witness has given consent to record the interview 4. Mention the reason for the interview.
Usually a client or attorney will ask for the original tape, but most private investigators give them a copy. The original will be needed in court.

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