The Expert Witness industry has seen at least two periods of “boom”. The first was during the 80’s as captured by The New York Times article “Expert Witnesses: Booming Business for the Specialists” and another with the maturation of the Internet Age, changing the industry forever.
When I first began placing expert witnesses, luckily, I was exposed to the “old” way of doing things. The firm I worked for had a file cabinet full of CV’s that had been slowly but surely accumulated throughout the years through mostly word of mouth and face to face meetings. The phone and fax were your best friends when it came to communicating with your client and your potential experts.
Now with the advent of advanced technology, the world of Expert Witnesses “feels” smaller but includes a multitude of more people. This is not a bad thing, in my opinion, mostly because accessible and open information means less veils.
As for Expert Witness basics, everything starts with expertise. In some way, an expert must stand out, whether for his or her credentials or even ones geographic placement relative to ones peers.
Second, if an expert wants to do expert witness work, one must be found. For those truly exceptional experts, firms like Experts Clearinghouse have a way of finding you, but for everyone else, you must either advertise independently or make yourself part of a network such as ours.
The practice of advertising oneself is tricky though because at one time about a decade ago this was sometimes frowned upon. There appears to be more open mindedness within the industry with the practice, but as always, it depends on what the client wants. The amount of expert witness work you do may affect how you are perceived within the industry and the courtroom. With all things, it is what you are comfortable with. Since it is your reputation that is on the line, how much you advertise and how much expert witness work you do is your prerogative. Finding the right balance in your practice can be tricky but also the key to your contentment. Almost all of our experts do not advertise independently.
To make things easy, Experts Clearinghouse, should you register with us, gives you the choice. We can keep your information on file in the event that your expertise is called into action or we can both do that and post your profile on our free forum for expert witnesses and those who utilize them, ExpertsBoard.com (Beta).
Regardless, we are a resource for you so feel free to call us at 713-501-8526 or use the form below should you ever have any questions. We will be happy to help, whether you need a medical expert witness or are one.
For Fee Schedule basics click here.
Thank you,
Robert Leonard Pham
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