Expert Witness Resource Round-Up

A few resources to investigate and read while waiting in the airport or escaping from the in-laws over the holidays:

One of our newsletter readers alerted me to a document from the Federal Judicial Center, "Manual for Complex Litigation." Written by and for judges, it contains good information about what is expected at each stage of litigation, who is supposed to attend various conferences, rules of discovery, etc.

Roger Matus of the Death by E-Mail blog, produced a list of 10 Things to Never Put in Email - especially relevant for expert witnesses. Remember, everything you say or write can come back to haunt you or even ruin a case.

Over on the Juris Pro blog, Karen Olson has posted a short list of "Practice Tips on Expert Witness Fees."

IMS ExpertServices identifies the "Top 10 Expert Witness Cases of 2008" in their December newsletter.

The 2009 Annual Conference of the Forensic Expert Witness Association will be held February 26-28 in La Jolla, California. As the online brochure explains, this conference is designed to help experts of all disciplines stay on "the cutting edge as it relates to courtroom presentation and written work product." Presenters include well-known attorneys and experts.

Here's an older article you would have to hunt down (see if you could borrow an issue from an attorney), but in the October issue of TRIAL magazine, hotel expert Peter Tomaras along with attorney Alison Werner Smith published the article, "Closing the Attorney-Expert Gap." The format makes it quite compelling, providing both the expert's perspective and that of the attorney.

Happy Holidays!

It's Not Too Late...

The 17th Annual National Expert Witness Conference is coming up - June 19-20 in Hyannis, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Presenters include judges, attorneys and experts. Here's one expert's feedback from last year's event:

"I went last year and it was great. Not to mention my business doubled last year. I have been an expert for 15 years and didn't realize how much I didn't know. Last year was the first year I went. I will be unable to attend this year but will try again next year."

Rosalie has attended several times and always comes away with good ideas and new relationships. It's not too late to get in on this year's conference.

More Expert Witness Resources & News

Thank you to everyone for sending me the latest on happenings and resources for expert witnesses. Here's a summary of the latest:

The Round Table Group has introduced their blog for expert witnesses with a focus on web strategies to help experts and lawyers communicate.

Registration is open for SEAK's 17th Annual National Expert Witness Conference. Check out the line-up which adds two new pre-conferences and features a faculty that includes four distinguished judges.

Attorney-run JurisPro just worked out an agreement to have their expert clients made accessible through the national law firm of Fried Frank - another addition to the major law firms with internal access to JurisPro experts.

Rominger Legal has just added an Expert News feed to their expert witness directory. It contains various expert blogs and expert witness news stories pulled from the search engines.

The library at ExpertPages now includes over a hundred case summaries from circuit courts of appeals, where expert testimony was discussed and the library is regularly adding new expert articles to their library.

The expert networking group in New York has taken off with gusto. It is open to any expert witnesses and the next meeting is scheduled for February 25 at 12:30 at Fabio Piccolo Fiore, 230 E 44th between 2nd and 3rd Ave. For more information, email geraldgoldhaber@yahoo.com.

Expert Witness Groups and Events

Expert witness Dr. Gerry Goldhaber emailed me this week about an upcoming event for expert witnesses. He would like to invite expert readers in the NYC area to attend the Gotham Networking Group's first meeting of expert witnesses on November 26 at 12:30 p.m. at Fabio Piccolo, 230 East 44th. The cost of the luncheon is $40.

The Gotham Networking Group consists of over 550 professional members. There are already two lawyer groups and Dr. Goldhaber decided enough of the members and their colleagues were expert witnesses to start such a group with the purpose of helping each other professionally and personally. For more information, email Dr. Goldhaber at
geraldgoldhaber@yahoo.com or phone his offices at 212-379-6661.

Another group that many of you are familiar with is expanding and each chapter has regular events scheduled. The Forensic Expert Witness Association, or FEWA, was started in 1994 in Orange County and now has chapters throughout California and a new one starting in Texas as well. Check out their events and the other services they offer their members at the FEWA website.

And last but not least, I strongly recommend all experts attend SEAK 's Annual National Expert Witness Conference. This year's event is scheduled for June 19-20, 2008 in Hyannis, MA (Cape Cod - beautiful at that time of year!) They haven't put up the brochure on their website yet, but I will let you know as soon as the do.

Build Your Network at Conferences

'Tis the season for conferences, seminars, and association meetings. I know some of you will be attending the SEAK National Expert Witness Conference and probably many others will be attending conferences by the organizations in their area of expertise.

Take a boatload of business cards with you and talk to everyone you can. Find out about them, how you might be able to help them or if you know someone you could introduce them to that would be of benefit to them. Your associates in your field can be a great source of collaboration and referrals. But start by building a relationship - people work with (and refer!) those they like from a human perspective first and foremost.

If you go to any expert witness conferences - do the same! Many cases require more than one type of expert. If you are able to provide your retaining attorney with the name of another expert he needs for the case, you become an even more valuable resource for the attorney and the expert appreciates the referral and may reciprocate.

Don't neglect to attend the networking functions and meals where you can meet one on one with the speakers, mostly attorneys and judges (and ALWAYS have your business cards handy!). Don't sell yourself but do introduce yourself and provide a face to go with your name. If you can, get a business card from them and follow up with a note of appreciation regarding their presentation.

New Resources for Expert Witnesses

Several companies that offer services to expert witnesses have recently made changes in their offerings or started new services and/or free resources. I have not investigated these in detail, but want to let you know what's new out there.

Many experts have told me how isolated they feel, with no one to talk to about situations that only expert consultants to the legal community face. Rominger Legal has launched Expert Forums, a free service where you can trade tips, discuss ideas, and get questions answered. (I would caution you to be careful what you say and remain anonymous if possible - everything you say is discoverable and lives forever on the Internet.)

Two new blogs for and about experts have debuted. The Expert Witness Blog by JurisPro supplements their existing free quarterly email newsletter for expert witnesses, The Pro.
SEAK, Inc., producers of the upcoming 16th Annual National Expert Witness Conference, have also launched a blog for expert witnesses.

Also just recently announced, Expert Pages has a new feature in their Control Panel to give experts ideas on how to expand their listing (apparently only available to those with an existing account). By clicking on "Topics of expertise" experts can view what are the most popular topics among other members in their field(s) of expertise (without listing any personal information of a specific member).

Although not new, there are two free monthly email newsletters (by separate companies) produced for both experts and attorneys that you might not be aware of. Archives of past newsletters can be for each at X-Pro News and BullsEye .

Let me know if these prove to be helpful or if you are aware of other resources for experts or new developments in the expert witness community.

Building a Successful Expert Witness Practice

If you subscribe to our newsletter Expert News, you have read our recommendations about the upcoming 16th Annual National Expert Witness Conference in Cape Cod this June. This multi-day conference by SEAK has sessions and preconferences for every type of expert, in every discipline, from novice to old-hand, consulting to testifying.

But there are so many sessions and preconferences to look at that I want to point out a special one. If you are mentoring someone new to expert witnessing or have a friend who is considering starting their own practice, I strongly recommend you steer them to this preconference - How to Start and Build a Successful Expert Witness Practice This intensive introductory workshop will be presented by Terrance Baker, MD, an extremely experienced expert witness and one of my favorite members of the SEAK faculty . At the SEAK conference I attended in Chicago a few years back, I was so impressed by his enthusiasm, knowledge and integrity.

So think about those in your circle who could use this information. Even if the whole conference would be too much for the beginning expert, recommend just this preconference workshop - it could make a big difference in their future success.