Most expert witnesses are looking to get retained in more cases. Sure, there are a few prolific experts with more work than they can handle… but the rest of us want to expand our practice, connect with more attorneys, and grow our expert witness business as quickly as possible. After retaining hundreds of experts for our attorney clients, the best advice we can give to our expert members is this… MINIMIZE FRICTION.
Why should I worry about this?
Here’s the thing… attorneys are busy. They have dozens of cases going on simultaneously. So… when they are working on a case… they might only have a short window of opportunity to get any meaningful work accomplished. If they are looking for an expert, they don’t want the process to be complicated and drag on forever. They will likely be on to another case/task soon… so time is of the essence.
Attorneys like to use their favorite experts for future cases… and share your information with their colleagues.
Anything you can do to speed up the process, make it easier for the attorney to find you, speak with you, and get your feedback on the case will be appreciated (and remembered).
Where do we see friction?
- Email – Answering emails as soon as possible is absolutely critical to getting more cases. It is not uncommon for the first person to respond to end up being retained, even if they might not be the “best” expert for the case. Same-day responses are a must… and responding within a couple hours is even better. This might sound crazy if you are a busy clinician… but you are running a business… and the attorney is your customer. When they reach out, they shouldn’t wait until the next day to hear back.
- Phone – Answering your phone is crucial. A lot of attorneys prefer phone calls over emails. While we are all inundated with spam calls, we still need to answer unfamiliar numbers. When an attorney gets your voicemail, they might just hang up and you never even knew you had a chance at the case.
- CV/Fee Schedule – Have these very accessible and ready to send from anywhere you happen to be. Keep them in a cloud account somewhere so you can even send them from your phone. If you get an email or call while you are away from your desk, you should still be able to send these to the attorney immediately.
- Contracts – We will discuss contracts in more detail in a later post… but it’s still worth mentioning here. Attorneys HATE long, complicated contracts. If they are evaluating two similar experts and one has a 5-page contract and the other has a 1-page fee schedule… there is no question who is getting retained (all else being equal).
- Scheduling – So you’ve answered the email quickly, sent your CV, and avoided a long and complicated contract… but your first available time for an introductory call is 13 days away. Sorry… that isn’t going to cut it. Unless there are extenuating circumstances (traveling overseas, having major surgery, etc)… an expert should routinely be available for an introductory call within a week at most. Anything longer gives the impression you will be difficult to schedule when more pressing issues come up during the course of litigation.
- Administrative Assistants – A lot of experts have started employing administrative assistants for their scheduling, emails, file organization, invoicing, etc. In general, this is fine. HOWEVER… the initial contact with the attorney is best handled by the expert. Once that warm introduction is made and the attorney is comfortable with the relationship, transitioning communication and other tasks to an assistant is totally reasonable.
This seems easy… what’s the big deal?
As experts get busy and start getting retained in 15-20+ cases a year, it is very natural (and necessary) to develop processes to minimize administrative burden and be more efficient in their practice. They occasionally lose sight of the “personal touch” that helped them develop their stellar reputation in the first place.
Being mindful of the friction points will keep the cases rolling in and your expert practice booming.
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