Having a record of prior arrests and court appearances can be a challenging setback for getting hired. Unfortunately, the comprehensive nature of online legal databases such as Justia, Law360, Unicourt, Plainsite, Casetext, casemine and Leagle may result in your records being readily available on the Internet. To make yourself more appealing in the eyes of potential employers, you may want to try negotiating for removal.
The aforementioned websites find material to publish by copying public court records, and they are allowed to do so by the law. However, there are several circumstances in which most of these sites honor removal requests. First, if you have your records sealed or expunged, you can usually hire a reputation management firm such as Reputation Stars to arrange court record removals. Also, if your court records contain sensitive personal information such as your social security number, driver’s license number, or medical records, a database may honor a removal request due to certain privacy laws.
Another option for removing traces of your court records from online searches is getting the records removed or deindexed from Google searches. While no site is legally obligated to remove or deindex your records, it is still worth asking. Some website owners may be reasonable enough to remove or deindex your records after a well-reasoned discussion.
If negotiations with a site are unsuccessful, online reputation management (ORM) companies such as us (Fix Bad Reputation) may have better luck and know what arguments to use for removals. ORM companies can also suppress negative search results using SEO tactics. By creating high-ranking content and pages, a good reputation management firm can ensure that your court records are not the first results users will see after an Internet search. Though this may not be the most ideal option, it is still an effective, necessary step for regaining control of your image on the Internet. If you are interested in any of these services, be sure to contact Reputation Stars today so we can provide advice on the best option.