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CONVENTIONSNAPSHOTS NALA Board and Regional Directors Front row, from left: Karen Greer McGee, CLAS, Treasurer; Tita A. Brewster, CLA, Second Vice President; Vicki J. Kunz, CLAS, President; Deb Monke, CLAS, First Vice President; Linda J. Wolf, CLAS, Secretary. Back Row, from left: Sharon G. Robertson, CLAS, Linville Falls, NC, Region 2; Kathleen Miller, CLA/CAS, Irvine, CA Region 9; Christine Porter, CLA, Portland, OR, Region 8; Michelle D. Doyle, CLA, Jackson, WY, Region 7; Ann L. Atkinson, CLA, Omaha, NE, Region 6; Kelly A. LaGrave, CLAS, Lansing, MI, Region 5; Cassandra Oliver, CLA, Tulsa, OK, Region 4; Olivia C. Roleson, CLAS, Memphis, TN, Region 3; Kimberly Houser, CLA, Enola, PA, Region 1; Melissa A. Vander Weide, CLAS, Orlando, FL, Affiliated Associations Director. Exhibitors, We Thank You. Exhibitors at the annual convention in San Antonio expressed great pleasure at the turnout and the interest shown by attendees. We are always grateful for their support and wish to acknowledge them here. Accurint, Boca Raton, FL Alamo Area Professional Legal Assistants, San Antonio, TX Altep, Inc., El Paso, TX Canadian Process Serving, Inc., Hamilton, Ontario (sponsor) Connective Tissue Case Evaluation Center, Fargo, ND CUW LitSupport, Dallas, TX Daryl Howard Studio, Austin, TX Delmar Learning, Clifton Park, NY DepoNet, Norcross, GA Diligenz, Inc., Mukilteo, WA Esquire Deposition Services, Florham Park, NJ Institute for Paralegal Education, Altoona Wisconsin (sponsor) Legal Assistants Division, State Bar of Texas, Manchaca, TX Lex Solutio, Houston, TX LexisNexis, New York, NY Medical Research Consultants, Houston, TX NationalDepo/Veritext, LLC, Florham Park, NJ Ralph McElroy Translation Co., Austin, TX Services Rendered, Inc., St. Louis, MO State Service Corp., Ft. Lauderdale, FL Syngence, LLC, Dallas, TX The Affiliates, Menlo Park, CA The Legal Translators, Watertown, MA TransPerfect Translations, Houston, TX CT Corporation, Houston, TX 32 FACTS & FINDINGS / AUGUST 2003
Experts Internet on the by Carol Levit, JD, MLS, President, Internet For Lawyers and Jim Robinson, Esq., President, JurisPro Expert Witness Directory Find, and Find Out About— At least once in their careers, most legal professionals will need to locate an expert witness for trial or pretrial consultation. Even if you find experts by personal referral, thus avoiding a search from scratch, there is still the chore of conducting a duediligence search to verify credentials and research their background. Finding your own experts and checking their background, however, is now less of a burden since the appearance of many online expert witness databases—many of which are free. The Internet, and especially the “Invisible Web,” can be used to help you 1. Learn the subject matter well enough to make an informed decision about the qualifications of a potential expert 2. Find the names, background, and availability of the potential experts 3. Decide if an expert will be a good witness should the case go to deposition or trial. While expert witness databases searchable by name, location, and expertise, are a good place to start, there are additional Internet resources. These include usenet posts, discussion groups, jury verdicts, deposition transcripts, case law, trade or professional association sites and directories, library catalogs, indices to articles, university sites, and the individual expert’s own Web site. How Will the Expert be Used? It is important to be clear on the reason an expert is being retained. Will this expert only consult on the matter, or will he or she be asked to testify at a deposition or at trial? If this expert will ultimately be called to state his or her opinion before a decision maker, then the expert’s communication skills should be considered. As articulated by Harry Beckwith in The Invisible Touch: “Communication is not a skill, it is the skill.” Jurors are rarely persuaded by credentials—most, in fact, will say that the qualifications of opposing experts “cancel each other out.” In his book, Beckwith cites a jury survey conducted by DecisionQuest, a jury consulting service, which found that jurors sided with one expert over another because one expert more clearly communicated her expertise. The jurors’ attitude seemed to be: “If you’re so smart, why can’t you speak clearly?” Learn the Terrain Before seeking an expert, you should familiarize yourself with the area of specialty. Going to a library’s online catalog and searching by subject can lead you to some of the literature in that area of specialty. A comprehensive listing of public library Web sites can be found at LibWeb (http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Libweb). Many library Web sites allow you to search directly for your topic. As you browse the book titles, you may spot certain authors who have written several books on that specialty. This may assist in determining some of the top experts in the field. Don’t dismiss Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble online (http://www.barnesandnoble.com) for books. Results at those retail sites can include a synopsis, the author’s name, table of contents, a note from the publisher about the work, and, in many cases, reviews of the book. Of course, one should not overlook the mother of all libraries—the Library of Congress (http://catalog.loc.gov/). In addition to sifting through online card catalogs for books, you should also conduct an online search for articles by subject, or by a known expert’s name. For example, if you have a case dealing with toxic mold and stachybotrys, a search through medical literature at the government’s National Library of Medicine (NLM) site is in order. By using the NLM gateway (http://gateway.nlm.nih.gov/gw/Cmd), it is possible to conduct a simultaneous search through numerous NLM publications. A results list for a sample search for toxic mold and stachybotrys showed 17 abstracts in PubMed. If the articles are available free, PubMed will include the link to them, otherwise you may order the article for a fee. To successfully search by a recommended medical expert’s name, continued on page 34 FACTS & FINDINGS / AUGUST 2003 33
Page 2 and 3: Departments President’s Message -
Page 4 and 5: Call for Proposals 2004 Convention
Page 6 and 7: Anatomyofa Construction Paralegals
Page 8 and 9: Anatomy of a Construction Defect Ca
Page 10 and 11: Resources & Opportunities Reviewed
Page 12 and 13: Automotive Product Liability contin
Page 14 and 15: Po Windows er Can by Robert M.N. Pa
Page 16 and 17: Estimated Number of Persons Injured
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Page 24 and 25: y Ann Marie Verity Paris may be the
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Page 28 and 29: CONVENTIONSNAPSHOTS July 9-12, 2003
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Page 36 and 37: EDUCATION A Road Worth Traveling Th
Page 38 and 39: TECHNOBITS Use the Technology Elect
Page 40 and 41: PRACTICETIPS Knowledge Really IS Po
Page 42 and 43: Practice Tips: Behold the Power of
Page 44 and 45: members demonstrates the importance
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Page 48 and 49: AFFILIATESCOLUMN Making the Most of
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Page 52 and 53: & NEWS INFORMATION Phyllis L. Dunha
Page 54 and 55: & NEWS INFORMATION NORTH DAKOTA Red
Page 56 and 57: & NEWS INFORMATION Alicia L. Castil

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