Entire Issue - National Association of Legal Assistants

personal injury, and other tort litigation, as well as criminal law.
The California-based ForensisGroup
(www.forensisgroup.com) provides technical, engineering, medical,
scientific, and environmental experts. This company provides
excellent customer service, and specializes in construction
experts. A “blurb” about an expert can be reviewed on this site
before contacting the referral company to retain that expert.
Academic & Institutional Sources
Experts, of course, abound in academia. To find any university’s
URL, see Trackem (http://johnsonxdesign.tripod.com/-
trackem.html) and scroll down to “College E-Mail Search
Form” (the term “e-mail” is misleading; the form responds
with URLs). A list of colleges and universities with links to
their home pages can also be found at American Universities
(www.clas.ufl.edu/CLAS/american-universities.html).
At Purdue University’s Web site (https://ssl.adpc.purdue.edu/-
ci/plsql/ci_anonymous.search_ci), a searchable database of
professors with various areas of expertise is available to search
either by expertise or the expert’s name.
If you have the name of an expert who is a professor, check
his or her academic background with a search at the institution’s
site. Here you may find their resumé, a list of classes they teach,
and links to articles they have written. This helps in eliminating
candidates whose credentials are not up to snuff.
Many healthcare facilities and organizations have excellent
directories for their doctors. A directory of nearly 18,000
healthcare organizations can be found on the Joint
Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations’
Web site (www.jcaho.org/qualitycheck/directry/directry.asp).
The directory includes ambulatory care facilities, assisted living
facilities, behavioral health care facilities (such as chemical
dependency centers and development disabilities organizations),
HMOs, home care organizations, hospitals, laboratories,
long term care facilities, and office-based surgeons.
Jury Verdict Reporter Databases
Jury verdict reporter databases, although selective since they
contain only those verdicts which an attorney reports to the database
publisher, can be useful for finding experts. By searching for
an expert’s name, one may discover whether the expert has given
opposing opinions in similar cases, appears more often as a defense
witness, or has usually testified for the winning side. Attorneys
involved in the cases are also listed in the jury verdict database and
may provide information about their experience with the expert.
Free online jury verdicts can be found at Morelaw.com. Paid
jury verdict reporters can be found at the Daily Journal’s site
(http://www.dailyjournal.com) and the National Association of
State Jury Verdict Publishers’ site (www.juryverdicts.com/).
Access to the Daily Journal site is limited to print subscribers
only, while the NASJVP site is available to everyone. Searching is
by an alphabetical listing of experts, then referral to the NASJVP
member who has detailed information about the verdict.
Case Law Sources
An expert’s name may also appear in a reported opinion,
many of which can be searched without cost. To find cases
using an expert’s name, type in the name alone or add relevant
key words if their name is common. If searching for an expert
in a specific area of expertise, type the word “expert” along
with the expertise sought using relevant key words.
For free case law searching, try LexisOne
(www.lexisone.com) or Findlaw (www.findlaw.com). To conduct
retrospective or nationwide searches, a pay database will
likely be needed. These include such major players, as Lexis or
Westlaw, and some of the newer case law sites such as LoisLaw
or VersusLaw. Lexis and Westlaw also have a variety of other
tools for finding experts, including expert witness directories.
Prior Deposition Testimony
Reading an expert’s deposition testimony can provide an
abundance of information about how the expert may perform.
However, there currently is no free centralized database for
expert witness transcripts.
At TrialSmith (www.trialsmith.com) formerly known as
DepoConnect, plaintiffs’ legal teams can access more than 73,000
online documents that include depositions as well as briefs,
pleadings, seminar papers, verdicts, and settlements. An annual
subscription is $195 a year and there is a $30/document fee.
TrialSmith also has a private discussion group to share information.
Experts may also be referred to in briefs, which can be
found at Brief Reporter (www.briefreporter.com). Searching is
free, with fees of $10/document and a $35/month access fee.
Defense teams may get full-text copies of an expert’s testimony,
for a fee, from Idex (www.Idex.com). Idex has built its
database of deposition transcripts by submissions from its own
members. According to their Web site, 6,000 records are added
each month to Idex’s database of more than 800,000 records of
expert involvement. Electronic versions of some documents
can be viewed and downloaded directly from this site at a
reduced price. Idex also has information on previous cases in
which the expert has given trial or deposition testimony.
On the plaintiff’s side, the ATLA Exchange (www.atla.org)
makes available to its members a database of more than 10,000
expert witnesses, and in excess of 15,000 transcripts. This database
is developed by submission from its members.
As an alternative, directly requesting a copy of the deposition
transcript from lawyers who have worked with (or against)
a particular expert may be effective. Most attorneys keep their
own expert witness transcripts, and would be willing to share
(provided, of course, the favor is returned some day). For
example, ATLA posts contact information for the member who
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