The Comprehensive Guide to Legal Courier Services

What Exactly Is a Legal Courier?

A legal courier is typically responsible for the transportation of sensitive materials between clients and legal practitioners such as lawyers or notaries. They are essential to the current legal ecosystem and are involved in the daily operations of many law firms.
Legal couriers will often perform general courier duties however they are educated on handling materials that contain sensitive or confidential information that related to client material , and therefore you can expect them to take a little longer to attend to the security of the material they are handling.
A legal courier will frequently organize and complete multiple pickups and deliveries throughout the day which can make usage of legal courier services very beneficial for law firms and legal firms with large workloads.
Because of the sensitive nature of the material that a legal courier handles, a contractor would be required to have good communication skills. Likewise, a legal courier employee for a law firm will need to show good professionalism when interacting with clients.

Listed Benefits of Legal Couriers

The advantages of using legal couriers are substantial, especially when it comes to the special needs of the legal intranet. Whether you are in charge of the law firm or not, the utmost necessity is having your documents arrive on time without fault. The last thing you want is your client, the Courts, or any other parties to think that you are incapable of handling their legal documents. Legal couriers fill the gap of delivering important legal documents when you need it, with the utmost professionalism and priority. This is the advantage that most lawyers that need essential documents delivered to key people on a regular basis very much appreciate. Legal couriers are professionals who have to go through extensive on the job training and abide by strict guidelines when handling paperwork for lawyers. Their whole day is spent delivering legal documents, so they will not be out of practice handling the important legal documents that you will need delivered in a timely and confidential manner. Also, when demanded to be at a place at a certain time, your legal couriers will be where they are supposed to be on time, if not, you can expect a back up courier to be there to get it done. Legal courier companies are available 24/7, where as law firms and legal departments in companies shut down at 5 p.m. Of course, lawyers too have to take time off, but the point is if you need their services, it will get done no matter what hour of the day or night it is. Their work is truly is on a priority basis, where they have to make certain that the documents get to their location as soon as possible.

How Legal Couriers Secure Documents

Security is a top priority for legal couriers. The very heart of their business is the secure transportation of highly sensitive documents, with many times an eye towards strict deadlines and stringent standards for proof of delivery. Demanding clients have set the bar when it comes to the security of any and every document they entrust to a courier service. Without the right security protocol, none of these documents are safe in transit.
When a legal courier requests a pickup, its drivers springs into action, often arriving at the location within the hour. As mandated by the courier, all documents must be signed for by the consignor when picked up, and delivered only to the party named on the shipping paperwork. While it may be obvious why a legal courier would stick to this course, this isn’t always what lead driver performing deliveries and pickups may want to do. That’s just one of the reasons why the latter requires training under stringent standards.
These standards are communicated in terms of standard operating procedures (SOPs) that legal courier companies outline for their pick-up, packaging, and delivery practices. It’s necessary for both drivers and dispatchers to know the SOPs by heart, so that they can develop customized delivery solutions that meet the needs of clients. In addition to client requests, this allows them to meet the requirements of state and federal regulations, such as OSHA, HIPAA, and SEC rules.
Because sensitive documents can go missing or be delivered to the wrong location, legal couriers also rely on tracking systems to ensure the consistent delivery of thousands of packages. Drivers are equipped with hand-held computers or tablets to scan barcoded numbers on packages, and sometimes they install GPS trackers on the shipments themselves. When it comes to court filings, they are often outfitted with "T" stickers, which allow for the immediate notification of the appropriate parties if the package goes missing.
Legal couriers also package documents quickly and efficiently when they’re required for delivery but outside of standard office hours. This means packing boxes, labeling envelopes, and securely sealing document bags. Again, additional steps may be taken according to stringent regulations outlined in the law.

Documents Carried by Legal Couriers

The legal world is one of strict deadlines and time constraints. Legal couriers are privy to some of the most confidential documents and important contracts available in any given law office or courtroom. Think about the various types of segments that go into any legal filing. There are letters, reports, notices, court documents and even just drafts of documents for review. Sometimes things move fast and what you wrote over the weekend may need to get signed and filed on Monday morning. Legal couriers are in the meeting rooms, the board rooms and everywhere in between. We handle contracts, certificates of incorporation, board resolutions, nondisclosure agreements, employment agreements, depositions and more. Any document you would have a signing or filing need handling, legal couriers transport them and then some. A legal courier is more than just someone who drives a car or truck. They have the knowledge and experience to handle a wide variety of situations. Legal couriers also transport confidential client information or give legal advice. Many people do not realize how important having trustworthy transport can be in a law office before it is too late. Having a professional service handle the couriers means you never have to worry about your clients or their documents. Everything is safe and secure. This level of expertise is why the legal industry uses legal couriers almost exclusively and not regular couriers.

How To Choose A Legal Courier Service

When it comes to ensuring the timely and secure transportation of sensitive legal materials, choosing the right legal courier service is imperative to your firm’s success. With several options to choose from, however, determining the best one for your needs can be challenging. There are, however, some clear criteria that can help ensure you make a choice you can trust with the time-sensitive legal documentation your firm routinely handles.
In addition to ensuring professional care over your documents, it’s important the service you select has a good reputation in the community. Take the time to verify the company you’re considering, and you’ll ensure you’re hiring a legal courier service committed to serving you better than the competition.
Besides an excellent reputation, you should also look for a legal courier service with more than a year of practical experience . The longer a company has successfully been delivering a consistent standard of excellence, the more likely you can count on them to repeatedly exceed your expectations.
In order to get the most for your budget, it also makes sense to consider price when selecting the right legal courier to suit your needs. Request a price quote before making a commitment, and ask any other firm you’re considering for one as well. Compare this information side by side to identify potential service providers that are providing competitive prices and the best value.
Finally, even when a legal courier has a perfect track record and great rates, you still should only work with one after reading reviews from other customers. When other legal professionals indicate they’ve enjoyed working with a previous courier, you can be confident you’re making the right decision if you choose to hire them as well.

The Role of Technology in Legal Courier Services

Technology has revolutionized the legal courier industry in ways that were once the stuff of science fiction. The days of unpaid bills and late or misdelivered packages are fading into memory as couriers and law firms alike embrace advances in technology that have transformed the landscape of legal delivery services. Digital tracking, online portals, and electronic signatures work together to ensure that your packages not only get where they need to go, but also do so as quickly as possible, allowing you to focus on the tasks that matter most to your firm.
Digital Tracking
Long gone are the days when couriers had to call a client and then write the address on the back of an envelope. Today, couriers can use digital devices that allow them to read complex routing information and input all of the necessary destinations to ensure that they hit their marks the first time, every time. Legal courier companies also use digital tracking devices to monitor and control their delivery network, including the location of each courier. Client calls regarding lost packages, duplicate deliveries, and other complaints will quickly become a thing of the past, leaving your employees time to focus on providing the best service possible.
Online Portals
For decades, law firms ordering couriers had to call to arrange pickups, deliveries, and other details. This never made sense: couriers were already in a rush, so placing another call placed an unnecessary burden on the firm and the courier alike. Today, most legal courier services offer clients convenient online portals that allow for self-service ordering, payments, and updates. Your firm can easily view order history to keep track of your most requested destinations, packages, billing information, and other variables.
Electronic Signatures
Your package can’t be "there in spirit." It’s got to be there in person. At the very least, someone’s got to have signed a piece of paper somewhere along the way. Courier services have long required this hand-off signature to confirm successful delivery, and this is still the case today. However, paper signatures are rarely instantaneous. They usually require a face-to-face hand-off or the completion of unwieldy forms via fax machine or snail mail.
Couriers have long been a part of the legal process and they will continue to be so. All families are constantly moving, so parties in civil cases need to be aware that any records sent to a person’s last known address risk being redirected or lost entirely. Some criminal cases also have multiple records of court proceedings that need to get to the right place, on the right day. The presence of legal couriers and associated technology help to ensure that no filings are misplaced.
While the legal industry has been notoriously slow to embrace the Internet and other tech advancements, technological innovation in the legal courier industry is pushing law firms into a new era. As the profession gradually moves toward digital record-keeping and much of the document-sharing of legal work is conducted paperlessly, legal courier services are poised to be on the cutting edge of the industry. The efficiencies that couriers have embraced should only be the beginning for firms. Throughout the next decade, we will likely see even more advancement in the areas of online ordering, tracking, invoicing, and reporting procedures. For now, companies and law firms that hire them can be confident that advanced technology has changed the game in the legal courier industry, for the better.

Legal Courier Services Case Studies

In California and Los Angeles specifically, there are a number of case studies that demonstrate the efficacy of legal courier services. A California law firm required an urgent delivery of 17 boxes of supporting documentation to accompany a submission to federal court. The case in question involved a medical malpractice matter where the office had less than 36 hours to produce the documents for a court submission. Pursuant to the time sensitive nature of this case, the Law Clerk contacted the Los Angeles legal courier service defendXpress whose trained couriers possess the specific knowledge to understand the jurisdictional requirements of federal court. The courier was at the office within 60 minutes and delivered the documentation to the courthouse on time. An international patent and trademark attorney in Los Angeles required an urgent delivery to a client’s headquarters in Beijing, China. The delivery in question was a set of legal documents that required immediate attention due to the expiry of a deadline and impacting his client’s ownership of a trademark. The attorney contacted the Los Angeles courier company defendXpress who has agents located in Beijing to expedite global deliveries. Once the documents reached China, they were immediately released and the attorney later confirmed that the documents were delivered, as directed, the very next day. A personal injury law firm in Orange County had been waiting over a month for an opponent to respond to interrogatories. When the deadline passed without a response , the law firm issued a Request for Admission and an Order to Compel further discovery to the court. The attorney emailed the documents to the Orange County Legal Courier who arrived at the courts less than 30 minutes later. The attorney later confirmed a hearing had been set for the following week based on the case submission. A Ventura County law firm needed to file an appeal for a case that had not been settled in the Courts. Upon searching the internet, the lawyer was referred to defendXpress by one of their corporate partners who had previously used them for courier services. He contacted the Ventura County Legal Courier and had instant success in setting up an account over the phone and received confirmation that an agent would be at his office within 30 minutes. The attorney sent the legal documents to be filed in court and received an email confirming the filing. A copy of the stamped filed documents were attached to their email receipt. A Los Angeles transportation company, specializing in same day express deliveries contacted defendXpress to have a critical package delivered to a law firm in Santa Monica. The package in question was required for the company’s litigation and a response from the Santa Monica law firm in question was required within 14 day from the day it was served. The courier was dispatched immediately and the package was picked up within 45 min. It was then dropped off at the Santa Monica law firm and an email confirming the delivery was provided. The law firm filed a response to defendXpress’ email confirming they had received the documentation and processed it for further action.