Expert Witness Network

"48 Hours" Expert Witness Coverage from 1999

2007-05-28T20:13:00.000-05:00

It's been very long since we have posted. We ran into technical issues with our blog host. These have since been resolved and we will continue to add new info.

This article is slightly dated but still an interesting use of expert testimony and the resulting outcomes.

EWN

2007-02-01T09:37:00.000-05:00

16th
Annual National Expert Witness Conference
Presented by SEAK, Inc.

June 21-22, 2007
Hyannis, MA (Cape Cod)

For our 9th consecutive year, the Expert Witness Network is pleased
to offer it's customers the 16th Annual National Expert Witness Conference
presented by SEAK, Inc. on June 21-22, 2007, Cape Cod, MA.

Expert witnesses from all disciplines and with all levels of experience
will benefit from multi-disciplinary advanced techniques. Nationally
recognized attorneys, experts, judges, and educators will discuss
all aspects of expert witness testimony, ethics, and trial techniques.
Conference participants will be presented with practical suggestions
for succeeding as expert witnesses.

This highly-acclaimed two-day program will include lectures, trial
demonstrations, lively question and answer periods, and intensive
breakout sessions led by a highly qualified faculty. Now Offering
Continuing Education Credits.

<<Register Today!>>

5 Tips to successful Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your Expert Witness Website

2007-01-28T10:37:00.000-05:00

PART I of V

The SEO process is one of the most important aspects of your expert witness website. After all, if no one can find you, then what’s the point of having a website? Look at SEO as a recipe for your favorite pie. If you leave out an ingredient, then the pie may not turn out right. Add too much and it may “burn”. Align all the stars and it’s perfection! In this case, perfection is a high “organic” or natural (unpaid) placement in the major search engines like Google, Yahoo! and MSN.

Since this is a multipart process, I will simply focus on one ingredient for this issue. Look forward to additional tips in coming issues.

PART 1...KEYWORDS

Choose your keywords carefully:

• Put yourself in the searchers shoes. If I am “ABC Expert Witness Services”, I can’t rely on the fact that someone is going to search for my company name exactly. That doesn’t mean you wouldn’t include it in your keywords though. I would, however, consider a broader search like “forensic expert witness”. This is the way you want to think when choosing your keywords.

• Use online tools to help you generate related keywords. Some really great tools exist online that can guide you in the right direction. One of the best is located at http://adwords.google.com. Click on “Get Keyword Ideas” and follow the instructions. Use a phrase (2-4 words) that best describes your services to help narrow down and target the keywords for your site. For example, you would get much more accurate results with a keyword generator by putting in “forensic expert witness” as opposed to just “expert” or “witness”.

Other online keyword tools include:
o http://inventory.overture.com
o http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/
o http://www.nichebotclassic.com/

• Evaluate the results of the keywords generated. In Google’s keyword generator, they give you the option of seeing search term popularity, volume and volume trends. If you are considering buying advertising, they even show the relative competition for a keyword. The higher the competition, the more expensive the keyword or phrase will be to purchase.

So pick your keywords carefully, this is one of the most important ingredients in the SEO pie.

Remember to:
a) Put yourself in the searchers shoes…think like a searcher.
b) Use online keyword generating tools
c) Evaluate keyword analytics

The next piece of the SEO "pie" we will explore are "Title Tag Best Practices" and how to create the most effective page titles to increase your organic search rankings.

EWN

Expert Witness

2007-01-18T23:30:00.000-05:00

Activist Lawyer Jan LaRue Is Carrying A Banner for Sam Alito in a Battle That's as Personal as It Is Political
By Marcia DavisWashington Post Staff WriterMonday, January 9, 2006; Page C01

http://www.witness.net/

Expert Witness Websites

2007-01-11T08:27:00.000-05:00

We have many experts coming to us for help promoting their services. Many don't have websites yet and some do. Can you design a site for us?...a common question we receive. At the time we didn't have the resources to fulfill such a request. Well, we heard your calls and now we can help!

If you would like a turnkey service that will have you on the web with a professionally designed website by people who know your business, then we can help.

Expert Witness Website Design
exclusively from witness.net

A Boom In Expert Witness Firms

2006-12-06T22:09:00.000-05:00

It's clear to many that the need for technical expert witnesses is growing rapidly. Specialty firms can provide the right person for the job. Check out what the John Markoff of the New York Times had so say.

EWN

Top 5 Mistakes Expert Witnesses Make

2006-08-14T20:10:00.000-05:00

Great article by Michael Lee.

EWN

Hey! Wanna Buy My Brain?

2006-06-14T20:30:00.000-05:00

Interesting article for our experts by Susan Littwin

They sway juries and trigger settlements. Who are these people, and when can you trust them?

(Free registration to read article required)

Surgeon's credentials as witness scrutinized

2006-03-18T12:47:00.000-05:00

The Medical Board of California is investigating whether a surgeon it used as an expert witness lied about his qualifications when testifying against other doctors in disciplinary hearings.

EWN

What future for Expert Witnesses?

2006-02-06T20:59:00.000-05:00

A General Medical Council hearing has struck Professor Sir Roy Meadow off the medical register after finding him guilty of giving erroneous and misleading evidence in the Sally Clark case. So what does the future hold for expert witnesses?

EWN

Are experts being tuned out?

2005-12-22T20:46:00.000-05:00

Blah, Blah, Blah...Yada, Yada, Yada...Wah, Wuh, Wah, Wah

However you put it, are you being tuned out? Too technical for the jurors? Are they even listening? Here is an interesting article on the topic of juror interpretation of expert witness testimony.

EWN

Expert Witnesses: Your Competitive Advantage

2005-12-05T12:14:00.000-05:00

Another excerpt from The Expert Witness Marketing Book by Rosalie Hamilton. This is an excellent resource for experts who want to market their services to the legal community. Enjoy! EWN

Your Competitive Advantage
"Who is your competition, and how do you compare? Considering that most cases requiring an expert witness involve at least two experts and our society shows no signs of becoming less litigious, competition should not be your primary concern in building an expert practice. You will learn valuable lessons, however, from analyzing the practices of two or three experts in your field. Study their professional qualifications, appearance, communication skills, and reputation among their peers, and note how they market themselves and the fees they charge.

After objectively assessing your own strengths and weaknesses, determine your competitive advantage. Is your education or professional experience superior? If you are not a novice, have you handled a greater number of cases, or bigger or more successful cases, or have you worked with prestigious law firms? Do you present yourself more professionally or appear more credible? Are there exclusive dimensions to your expertise? What comprises your personal uniqueness and, therefore, your competitive edge?

A competitive advantage can be merely a perceived advantage. You can use this to your benefit. A large engineering firm may have many different specialties of engineers, along with its own testing facilities. Alternately, a sole practitioner engineer can promote himself as being more responsive to the attorney, more personally involved in each case, and possibly less costly. Learn to articulate your competitive advantage in a professional manner."

Should Experts Be Using a Referral Service?

2005-11-16T19:53:00.000-05:00

Here is excerpt from The Expert Witness Marketing Book by Rosalie Hamilton. This is an excellent resource for experts who want to market their services to the legal community.
Enjoy! EWN

"Registering with a referral service is a valid marketing avenue for the expert just starting a litigation support practice. This is also a good choice for an experienced expert who has a narrow, or esoteric, field. An attorney is more likely to use a referral service for an unusual specialty than he is for a more common one. In addition, a referral service is a marketing and administrative option for a physician wishing to do Independent Medical Evaluations. Referral services are also called brokers, referral agencies or consulting agencies.

Referral services charge the attorney, the expert or both. (Professional membership organizations of experts, such as accountants and engineers, sometimes refer attorneys to their members free of charge).
Commercial referral services promote their service to attorneys, who contact them when they need experts. The service then calls an expert who is registered with them or, if they do not have that particular kind of expert, attempts to locate one.

When a law firm engages you through certain referral services, any future work you do for that law firm may be under contract with the referral service for a specified period. This is a matter of consideration due to the significant value of repeat and referral work. Nonetheless, registering with a referral service is a way to get work, usually at no cost to you.

The referral service, or agency, should have a large number of experts registered. Find out how many. If the agency is a shell, having few or no experts registered, and only searches for an expert when an attorney calls, you do not want your name and resume to be the decoy. An exception is the search firm which promotes itself as such. Ask how the agency's services are promoted to attorneys. Many of the effective ones advertise extensively in legal publications. If attorneys do not know about the agency, registering with that agency will not be beneficial to you. A few of the services are also now showing up often in keyword searches on the Internet.

There are valid reasons for some experts to use a referral service. As with all sources of business, choose carefully, ask a lot of questions, particularly about financial arrangements, and check references."

Revealed: Honda and Expert Sanctioned for Destroying Key Evidence

2005-11-07T08:29:00.000-05:00

Experts in the news. We'll be posting articles we find relating specifically to Expert Witnesses in the news. Check back often and remember to subscribe to our RSS feed and Podcast.

EWN

$20,000 judgment against Expert Witness

2005-11-02T20:20:00.000-05:00

From time to time, we'll scan the news for articles we find relevant and interesting for the expert witness community. If you have any articles you would like to share, please post a comment below.
EWN

Witness.net Podcast #002 "What is an Expert Witness?"

2005-10-26T21:55:00.000-05:00

Witness.net Podcast Bumper

2005-10-25T21:22:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the Podsafe Music Network for the great music! More to come soon.

EWN Podcast

2005-10-24T14:44:00.000-05:00

What is an Expert Witness?

2005-10-23T19:42:00.000-05:00

If you are reading this, chances are that you are in fact an actual expert witness...or hoping to become one. Well, whether you are a seasoned expert witness with many years of experience or if you are just realizing your potential and deciding it might just be for you, here is some interesting reading.

Did you ever ask what the actual "definition" of expert witness is? The following (taken from Wikipedia) is their definition:
"An expert witness is a witness, who by virtue of education, or profession, or experience, is believed to have special knowledge of his subject beyond that of the average person, sufficient that others may officially (and legally) rely upon his opinion."

The complete reference is located here:
Wikipedia: Expert Witness

Please tell your colleagues and let me know if you have any feedback on topics or ideas by clicking on the "comments" link below.

Thanks again for reading.
EWN

The Start of Witness.Net Blog

2005-10-21T11:44:00.000-05:00

Thanks for taking the time to read our first blog entry. We plan to do much more of this in the future. That said, I welcome any suggestions, feedback or ideas you may have for what you would like to see here. Simply respond to this with a "comment" below.

We also plan to start Podcasting on a weekly basis. You can hear our first Podcast here. A little rough, but a start.

Well we might as well start this off with an interesting article I found. Enjoy!
Six Steps to Successfully Sabotage Your Expert Witness

Please tell a colleague! Thanks.

EWN

Witness.net Podcast #001 - Intro to witness.net services and mission.

2005-10-21T11:06:00.000-05:00

Witness.net Podcast #001 - Intro to witness.net services and mission.