People Research / Competitive Intelligence

Be ethical. Know the applicable laws and the ethical standards to which your profession is held. If you are researching on behalf of someone else, ask that person to identify the permissible use.

Information professionals, legal researchers, paralegals, and others have legitimate reasons to conduct people research. We might be conducting background research on a prospective client or in preparation for a meeting, for example. Permissible uses can include litigation, debt recovery, legal compliance, transactions authorized by a consumer, resolution of disputes, and more. Here are some tips for successful and discreet people research.

Be creative. Make use of the full range of information people search sources available to you, both paid, proprietary services and free internet sources. Use incognito or privacy modes on services when that’s available.

Set up a generic email address just for this purpose. When using online information services for people search, use an email address dedicated to this purpose to corral all the resultant emails you might receive and to, when appropriate, disassociate the research from your personal or workplace identity. (See Be ethical, above.)

Know where you can cut corners in your organization. In other words, like every good researcher, know what kind of information is required, what is unnecessary, and when to stop.

Know your due diligence requirements. Be aware of best practices and expectations for documenting your research, for complying with license agreements, and for meeting your organization’s research needs.

Keep a matrix of what works for you. If you’ve ever just looked yourself up online, you know how quickly the people research trail takes you down rabbit holes. Keep notes or a spreadsheet on the information resources that work well for you and that provide accurate, reliable information.

Learn how the search feature works. Test it out. Search features vary quite a bit site to site, both in terms of the sophistication and granularity of the function and the results that are generated. It pays to read documentation, get training, and test the functionality.

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Find out the updating schedule for databases. All public records databases and websites should reveal their schedule for frequency of updates. You should know if a site has been updated recently, especially when you need current information.

Know what a database includes. Again, check out the site’s documentation to see what it actually provides. Some resources are much more robust and reliable than others. With good reason, for example, social security numbers, telephone numbers, and birthdates may be incomplete.

Use advanced searching techniques. The quality of your research results is tied to the quality of your search techniques and the resources you choose to consult. Make good use of the database’s search functionality.

There are U.S. laws governing access to and use of public records including the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (15 USC §6801 et seq.), the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (18 USC §2721 et seq.), and various state laws. Additionally, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 USC §1681 et seq.) restricts the use of public records databases for consumer credit, insurance purposes, and pre-employment evaluation. It is essential that the researcher and the person requesting research, whether in a law firm setting or elsewhere, understand important legal barriers to access to public records.

I had the pleasure of presenting a program to the Paralegal Association of New Hampshire earlier this month, talking about tips and tricks for effective legal research. We looked at sources for free and low-cost research, a process for evaluating the credibility of websites, a variety of search engines, and guides to the legal research process. This post is drawn from that material.

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