Given the gray areas involved in determining a conflict of interest, experts should be especially careful in their conflict checks. Failing to recognize a potential conflict can not only damage an expert’s reputation, it can also affect an expert’s ability to obtain future business.  According to Cordy v The Sherwin-Williams Co., the attorney representing the case may also be disqualified for not delving into the expert’s past or revealing the conflict.

For these reasons, you should consider your financial, professional and personal relationships with each of the parties involved. Continue reading »

By Dale C. Crawford

Anyone involved in insurance dispute resolution will sooner or later come across an issue involving pollution exclusions. Most carriers—even those operating on a non-admitted basis—use the Insurance Services Office standard form. Typically, the conflict will be whether a cause of loss falls within the exclusionary language. Continue reading »

By Joey Amspacher

The popularity of social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn continues to grow by leaps and bounds. With that rise in popularity comes increased usage by legal professionals, specifically attorneys, jurors, experts and judges.

Whether you are a professional expert or a consultant who occasionally works in litigation support, extreme caution must be exercised when dealing with social media. IMS ExpertServices identifies some of the pitfalls you should avoid, and strategies to avoid them. Continue reading »

In our 24-hour-live-news-coverage approach to local and world events, it appears that there is always a new crisis brewing.  Crises can hit any industry at any time, underscoring the need for experts in all professions.  But the experts that serve as witnesses in these crisis cases can encounter their own, personal crises of timing, conflict and conscience. Continue reading »

By Rosalie Hamilton

Your printed materials represent you in your absence. What do they say about your professionalism, your thoroughness, and your attention to detail? The most important points to include in an introductory, or solicitation, letter are the subject line and the P.S. (postscript).

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By Alex Rosenberg

There are a number of steps one must take toward becoming more important as an appraiser. If one is a recognized specialist in a given field, he or she will be called upon either to act as an appraiser in important cases or act as an expert witness or both in cases involving large sums of money.

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By Aaron Stiefel, Kaye Scholer LLP

In virtually every patent litigation, a key task for the trial lawyer is identifying, recruiting and retaining expert witnesses.

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By Rosalie Hamilton

Being an expert consultant/expert witness is a unique practice. If I’ve said that once, I’ve said it a thousand times, but, doubtless, I’ll say it another thousand times.

Your practice has similarities to other professional services, such as perhaps even your own “day job” if you provide services to private individuals, businesses, or industry. But, despite seeming obvious, the most critical difference in an expert consulting/testifying practice and a non-legal practice or business is that your clients and prospective clients are attorneys.

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By Rosalie Hamilton

When your expertise is publicized in articles and books, it does not look like advertising, it does not feel like advertising, but, delightfully, it’s like advertising. Publicity is, in fact, the best promotional avenue after networking. Even better – it is usually free.

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By Rosalie Hamilton

1. Create your marketing for your public, not the public. Lawyers are not attracted to and do not respond to gimmicks and other devices that consumers sometimes do. Legal industry standards also preclude results-oriented advertising (“I can help your side win”). Anything with your name on it should be professional and conservative.

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