Tag: expert witness directory

ConsultantsExpert WitnessVocational Rehabilitation

VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION EXPERT WITNESSES & CONSULTANTS

on February 24, 2011

There is a great need for Vocation Rehabilitation Expert Witnesses and Consultants in the legal field. For many cases in which an individual is injured to the point of disability, a Vocation Rehabilitation Expert can determine that individual’s employability and earning potential.  According to the Encyclopedia of Mental Illnesses, the definition of Vocational Rehabilitation is:

“A set of services offered to an individual with mental or physical disabilities.  These services are designed to enable participants to attain skills, resources, attitudes and expectations needed to compete in the interview process, get a job, and keep a job…”

For example, a Plaintiff whose leg was crushed by a tractor may no longer be able to do manual labor.  If his only option is a desk job and he has no education beyond high school, what are his possible options and how much can he expect to earn?  This question is best answered by the Vocational Rehabilitation Consultant.

Vocational Rehabilitation Experts have many specialized areas of expertise, such as Economics, Life Care Planning and Psychology to name a few.  A background in economics is essential in order to calculate Earning Capacity and Worklife Expectancy.  For those with catastrophic injuries who can no longer care for themselves, a vocational consultant with Life Care Planning skills is necessary to assess the situation and develop a cost-effective plan for the family.  In most cases, the trauma involved with life-changing injuries requires a Psychologist with Vocational expertise to aid with the pain and stress of living a life with disabilities.

Vocational Rehabilitation Experts and Consultants serve the greater good by not only helping to put those who have been injured back to work but by guiding them through hardships no one should have to suffer.

Please click the link for a list of highly knowledgeable Vocational Rehabilitation Experts and Consultants.

ConsultantsCrisis ManagementExpert WitnessUncategorized

CRISIS MANAGEMENT EXPERT WITNESSES & CONSULTANTS

on January 28, 2011

In the wake of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and other national crises like the Virginia Tech and Columbine shootings, it is imperative that we have a cache of individuals and companies at hand to respond to and manage such devastating events. Even more important is that these Experts and Consultants are available to prepare and train prior to any emergency.
Disaster Planning and Threat Analysis are not only critical to the safety of our nation’s institutions but anywhere that crowds tend to gather, such as Times Square in New York City or Union Square in San Francisco. Crisis Management Experts and Consultants use their experience and expertise to assess vulnerabilities and train for potential disasters at our schools, universities, high-risk workplace environments and hospitals. Keeping us safe is their number one priority.
Their areas of expertise can range from Disaster Planning, Hostage Negotiation, Suicide Attempts and Employment Screenings to Epidemiology, Food-Borne Vulnerabilities, Business Continuity and Terrorism. As with all those who protect the citizens of this country, Crisis Management Experts must be acknowledged for their contributions. It is with gratitude that we feature them here today.

Crisis Management Experts and Consultants

ConsultantsCredit DamageExpert WitnessLitigationTestimony

CREDIT DAMAGE EXPERT WITNESSES – COMPENSABLE DAMAGES

on January 19, 2011

It used to be that credit damage was not a compensable injury.  The victims of identity theft or fraud could not recover financially for any damage that was not a tangible good or service.  Thanks to the relatively new procedure of Credit Damage Measurement (CDM) and the expertise of many Credit Damage Experts, getting compensated for intangible losses is now possible.

In an article titled, “Credit Damage: Getting Compensated for Your Loss,” Credit Damage Expert, Georg Finder writes that, “ The impact of a bad credit rating is much more significant than most people think. Consider what poorly rated consumers face when they want to lease or buy vehicles, obtain credit cards, buy or lease or refinance their residence. In most cases, it’s an easy decision for the creditor: the credit application is simply turned down or the borrower is charged a much higher down payment – maybe thousands of dollars more with monthly payments that are typically several hundred dollars more.”

Tom Key, a civil litigator practicing in Tustin, CA is also mentioned in Finder’s article.  He explains that the CDM can help by measuring the actual out-of-pocket dollars reasonably expected from loss of creditworthiness, which includes higher down payments, higher points and costs on loans, higher interest rates, higher monthly payments, or outright denial of credit.  In addition, Keys says that the CDM method also calculates the rates, costs and other terms applicable to the resulting credit rating by lenders and projects the results over the relevant number of years for the types of loans the client is likely to seek.

For those who have suffered from identity theft or fraud that has left them with little or no credit, all is not lost.  With the help of a good Credit Damage Expert, civil litigator and the CDM procedure, recovery is not only possible, but likely.

Read Experts.com Member, Georg Finder’s, complete article.

AccountingBusiness ValuationExpert WitnessForensic AccountingFraud

FORENSIC ACCOUNTING EXPERT WITNESSES & CONSULTANTS

on January 12, 2011

In the fall-out from the past few years’ financial debacle, there has been no shortage of work for Forensic Accountants.  From the Bernie Madoff scheme to Lehman Brothers and all the financial scams in between, Forensic Accountants have been called upon to apply the concept of accounting to help lawyers adjudicate and resolve the resulting legal problems.

Image Courtesy of Trade & Global Market

The Accountant’s Handbook of Fraud & Commercial Crime offers a definition which has been informally accepted by many Forensic Accounting Experts.  The definition is as follows:

“Forensic and investigative accounting is the application of financial skills and an investigative mentality to unresolved issues, conducted within the context of the rules of evidence. As a discipline, it encompasses financial expertise, fraud knowledge, and a strong knowledge and understanding of business reality and the working of the legal system. Its development has been primarily achieved through on-the-job training, as well as experience with investigating officers and legal counsel.”

Forensic Accountants apply their knowledge to many different financial transactions such as

  • Bank Fraud & Embezzlement
  • Bank Operations & Practices
  • Check Kiting
  • Electronic Transactions
  • Embezzlement
  • Money Laundering
  • Payment Processing & Fraud Detection/Prevention
  • Royalty Audits
  • Claims Analysis
  • Determination of Compliance

A Forensic Accountant’s area of expertise is not limited to financial crimes and fraud. They apply their knowledge to civil matters as well. Their services are useful for breach of contract, business valuations and marital / family law.

Considering the amount of financial litigation out there today, whether it be civil or criminal, the Forensic Accountant’s docket is most likely as full as the courts in which they testify.

Demonstrative EvidenceExpert WitnessLitigationTestimony

EXPERT WITNESSES – RULES FOR VISUAL AIDS IN THE COURTROOM

on January 4, 2011
Medical Illustration

Photo Courtesy of Coulter Medical Imaging

Visual Aids and Demonstrative Evidence are an excellent way for Experts to explain complex medical, financial and technical issues to juries.  Listening to Finance Experts expand upon how damages were calculated in real estate litigation or to Medical Experts explain a botched surgery is often not enough.  For hard to follow testimony, visual displays or demonstrative evidence, such as charts, drawings, graphs, and models can be essential to capturing and maintaining a jury’s attention.

In their book entitled, “Expert Testimony,” Steven Lubet and Elizabeth I. Boals suggest that there are Six General Rules for using visual aids in the courtroom.

  1. Keep It Simple – too much information can overload the jury.
  2. Only use information essential to the case and easily demonstrated.
  3. Obtain professional assistance in drawing and developing visual displays.
  4. Work in conjunction with the attorney – the visual aids may be subject to legal or procedural rules that govern their use.
  5. Be sensitive to the judge and his/her acceptance of digital technology displays – confer with counsel.
  6. Be sensitive to the impact of graphics – an enlarged photo of a bloody bullet trajectory may be too disturbing for a jury.  A drawing may get the point across and also be less offensive.

As technology progresses, litigation is becoming increasingly more complicated for juries to understand. Using demonstrative evidence and visual aids and following these general rules can mark the difference between a case won and a case lost.

ConsultantsExpert WitnessiPhone App

Experts.com iPhone Application

on December 7, 2010

The FIRST of its kind for the iPhone, the Experts.com Application provides Users worldwide an Efficient, Effective and Economical way to find and retain the most knowledgeable Experts and Consultants for litigation, business consultations, new business development, research projects, breaking news and other projects.

Customer Ratings

Current Version: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 114 Ratings
All Versions: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 143 Ratings

FEATURES:Experts.com iPhone

The App lets you:

  • BROWSE by Category of Expertise the qualifications and contact information of the Experts listed in each Category. There are over 1,265 Categories of Expertise, ranging from Accident Investigation & Reconstruction to Zoology.
  • FIND the right Expert by searching Keywords, Name, Company, Address, State, or Country. The Search Function is dynamic and robust. You can use one Search Field or a combination of Search Fields. Using Search Filters, you can broaden or narrow the search using: All Words – Any Word – Exactly.
  • MANAGE Referrals \ Requests For Experts using the SynapsUs Management System. You can (1) track each Request For Experts separately, (2) review the Experts matched to that Request, (3) view the contact information for the User initiating the Request For Expert, (4) communicate back and forth with one or multiple Experts, and (5) log each communication.
  • PERSONAL search assistance. Let Experts.com do all the work. Fill out the Request For Experts Form or Request For Information, or simply email us or call us, and our staff will Complete the search for you.
  • APPLY for Membership. If you are not already a Registered Member, you can begin the process by submitting a Membership Application.
  • REGISTER as a User. The User Account will be established once the User Application is submitted.

Download The Application At your iPhone App Store:

App Store Keywords: Experts.com \ Experts \ Experts and Consultants

Expert Witness

Expert Witness Directory vs. Expert Witness Broker – Where’s the Value?

on November 3, 2010

There is no doubt that the Expert Witness Broker Model is lucrative.  For the longest time, it was the fallback model for the rolodex and word of mouth referrals.  Indeed, the impetus for starting Experts.com was the lack of an alternative to this fallback model.  The founder of Experts.com, Nabil E. Zumout, Esq., started the company out of sheer frustration with a broker that his firm relied on for years.  It was the broker’s inability to find a specific Mortgage Practices Expert and failure to communicate promptly that drove Mr. Zumout to search other sources, including the Internet.  What he found was immediate, direct contact with highly knowledgeable experts.

In this day and age, it is difficult to imagine a world without the Internet.  Fifteen years ago, however, the information available on the Internet was scattered and accessibility was limited.  As Information became more accessible, the need to have someone broker access to it diminished drastically.  Given that Experts can publish their expertise on the Internet and make it accessible to those who seek it, the more relevant question is whether the Broker Model provides an added value for attorneys that Directories do not?  If so, what is that added value truly worth?

The answer, in most cases, is no they do not.  Any value added early on in the engagement and selection process does not merit the 30% mark-up in fees that is tacked on to every hour billed after the selection and engagement of the expert is completed.  How can you justify a $30,000 commission on $100,000 in Expert Witness fees, especially if you could have found the same Expert for free?

The reason that the Broker Model continues to be successful is that attorneys are slow to change and have not yet been educated as to the benefits of the Directory. It is our job to make them aware, but it is becoming much easier with the new generation of computer-savvy, financially-conscious, Internet-connected generation of attorneys and paralegals in the market.

Many Expert Witnesses and Consultants can be found in both venues.  When a lawyer knows he can find the same highly-experienced Expert in a Directory as with a Broker, why would he ever pay for the Broker’s services?  We cannot speak for all Directories, but at Experts.com, when asked to search for an Expert, we, like Brokers, screen Profiles and CVs.  But, as with Brokers, this is cursory and it always falls to the attorney to do his due diligence in qualifying an Expert.  Anything less would be malpractice.  Again, what is the value the Broker offers that the Directory does not?

From the Expert’s perspective, joining a Broker seems like a no-brainer.  For no charge to the Expert, the Broker will gladly add his CV to its bank of CVs on file.  When the Broker receives a request from an attorney, he can select a few for the case even though many may qualify.  Regardless of the criteria the Broker uses to select the Experts, the Experts are not involved in the selection process.  The Broker model does not allow all of the qualified Experts to put their best foot forward for each case, negotiate their own fees or even have contact with the attorney until the investigation stage.  The true cost for the Expert is lack of control when it is most important.

These are troubled economic times and it simply does not make sense to pay for something that can be had for free. What we offer attorneys at Experts.com is an efficient, effective and economical way to locate Expert Witnesses and Consultants. What we offer Experts is an efficient, effective and economical way to market and broker their own expertise.

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