Almost a decade ago, I posted a fairly exhaustive how-to guide on filling out a standard Hague Service Convention Request, known colloquially here in the United States as a USM-94. More technically, it’s U.S. Marshals Form 94, which the Government Printing Office long ago abbreviated… and it stuck.* To say this form is the lifeblood of my firm’s work is gross understatement. I have a staff of four, and we all live and breathe by this thing. To be sure, hiring us is not the only way to the desired destination (ie: successful service).** Will we lend a hand? Absolutely, but we’re not the only lawyers who do this sort of stuff. Plus, because any lawyer or court official can sign a Hague Request, there’s always the old do-it-yourself approach, though I recommend against it.
But there’s a third way: a sort of “assisted DIY” method using the Hague Envoy platform, conveniently accessible at usm94.com. My wife (who is, coincidentally or not, my office manager) built that system by plucking bits of information and institutional memory out of my lawyer brain and putting them into usable form. It’s been used by hundreds of lawyers across the U.S. and Canada since it was launched some five years ago, for the most part to pretty efficient effect. We don’t hear from users frequently that a Request has failed– and when we do, it’s usually because of something unrelated to the Request form itself.
But we’ve seen some red flags pop up that may tend to derail an otherwise solid Request. Here are some tips for those situations where either plaintiff’s counsel is confident that they can handle it, or the litigation budget precludes hiring outside counsel like us:
ONE
Do independently verify your defendant’s address, hopefully through one of the many robust corporate registries around the world (especially necessary in China!). And if your defendant is an individual, try your best to ascertain a home address. If you can do neither, your odds of success go down.
After all, where did you get it? From the defendant itself? From a co-defendant or opposing counsel? Amazon? The USDOT’s SAFER Web?
Nothing derails a Hague Request like a bad address, so do everything you can to make sure your information is coming from a reputable– and preferably, authoritative— source.
TWO
Be as neutral with your descriptions as possible. This document’s purpose is to get your defendant served, not to begin the argument. Don’t litigate the matter in the Nature & Purpose of the Proceedings field. Soften any language that would, at least in the pleadings, be argumentative.
Keep in mind that, while we lawyers can sign Hague Requests originating in the U.S. and Canada, in most of the world, that’s a judicial or diplomatic function. If the Nature & Purpose field is too forceful with the underlying allegations, foreign Central Authorities could perceive the case as prejudiced and then refuse to serve.
THREE
Don’t get wordy. You’re not going for War & Peace here. In fact, you’re not even going for a pulp detective novel from the thirties. Think nutshell. Imagine you have a character limit (you really should), be brief, state no more than two sentences describing what the case is about, and get out. To be sure, it’s a good idea to rein in your verbosity in the pleadings anyway, especially if you have to translate.
FOUR
Do use the phrase inter alia. I include it on just about every Hague Request I sign, because it naturally overcomes the need to violate suggestion #3. Again, you’re just aiming for a nutshell here.
FIVE
Don’t freak out. Exercise extreme patience after you’ve submitted the Request. Why? Things work differently in Notamerica, and they take longer, too. Get used to that reality now, make your client get used to that reality now, and make the court get used to that reality now, or you’ll be exceedingly frustrated later.
SIX
Unless you’ve done a lot of these, do call in some help. Again, our firm isn’t the only game in town, so if you think I’ve just got too much attitude for my own good, call one of the two or three other attorneys on the continent who do this sort of work and let them (or one of my less snarky staff!) handle it for you. At the very least, don’t go it alone.
* Technically, it’s not a U.S. government document– it was designed by the Hague Conference on Private International Law, and is prescribed by the treaty itself. But in the Go-Go Sixties, service of federal summonses was left up to the U.S. Marshals, so it just sort of made sense to house the thing in their library.
** Using this form is not the only avenue to successful Hague Service either (depending on destination, faster private alternatives are often the better way to go), but it’s the treaty’s primary means of getting the job done.
Author’s note about the image above: that was the Iryo high-speed train that derailed in southern Spain on January 18, 2026. Peggy and I rode that very route (I don’t know if it was the same rolling stock) just a month earlier while on vacation. Talk about hitting close to home…
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