File Notes & Notebooks

File notes are records of the time and content of consultations, meetings, interviews, telephone discussions and other events.  They can be handwritten, typewritten or computer printed and tend to be loose leaf pages.  Notebooks, log books and journals, on the otherhand, are bound and the pages may or may not be numbered.  Lawyers, real estate agents, police officers, accountants, brokers and similar persons would keep notebooks and make file notes for client files.

Issues frequently arise regarding the preparation of file notes and notebook entries.  A detailed study of the questioned entries using microscopy, photoanalytical and electrostatic forensic document examination techniques often shows that suspect entries could not have been made as part of an ongoing contemporaneous record. 

Other issues may arise regarding substitution and/or addition of pages to the file.

FDS has had significant experience in detecting back dated file notes.