Finding witnesses in civil and criminal lawsuits

According to our experience, in many civil lawsuits the clients and their attorneys, or the attorneys and law firms independently hire private detectives to find witnesses and evidence relevant to the case. The case is different with criminal lawsuits. In general, neither clients nor their attorneys turn to private detectives in criminal lawsuits. This is strange for two reasons, as since 1 July 2003 Hungarian criminal procedure laws permit private individuals to file supplementary private indictments through their legal representatives in cases which were thrown out by the prosecutor’s office, or closed by the police. In these cases the plaintiff has 60 days to prepare his or her motion, including finding new and relevant evidence and/or witnesses. We think that this is often very difficult for everyone involved without the help of a private detective agency. In civil lawsuits both parties – the defendant and the plaintiff – turn to private detectives to help them. Not many people are aware that this option is open to them in criminal cases, both for the plaintiff and the defendant.
Should the suit be civil or criminal, the initial step in finding witnesses starts with a very thorough study of the case. It is also imperative for us to meet the client’s legal representative, as it allows us to pinpoint what the attorney really needs, and the results of our investigation can be used in front of the court. The whole process requires a very detailed and well documented job from the detective. 
Finding witnesses is a very complex procedure, as it involves personal reconnaissance, a series of open and covert hearings, and all the methods of searching for missing or hiding persons. Finding a witness can be considered successful only when the investigator not only finds the individual (meaning both the name and the address of the witness are known, so he or she can be subpoenaed), but also conducts a preliminary hearing. The reason of this hearing is very simple: the detective must find out what the witness consciously or unconsciously knows about the case. This way witnesses can be classified, starting with the key witnesses and ending with the ones who only can provide small details and fragments. 
The witness’ statement is only one of the many forms of evidence in both civil and criminal cases, therefore we aim to find more, possibly material evidence such as official documents and records.
The most important rule of finding witnesses is that the private detective must act during the preliminary hearing professionally and objectively and always steer clear of even the impression of influencing the witness.