Experts Gather 'Round the Table

Practitioners Pick Prominent Professors via the Web. Round Table Group's Expert Witness Practice Is Profiled.

Your client urgently needs an expert with sterling credentials in a highly technical field to explain complex concepts in plain English to a judge or jury. Who ya' gonna' call?

Chicago-based Round Table Group, a consortium of nearly 3000 university professors, seeks to bring together the best and brightest minds. It was launched in 1994 with the idea of using the Internet to ease the process of locating high-end experts.

"A lot of people were focused on business-to-client services on the Internet, like selling books and toys," recalled RTG cofounder Russ W. Rosenzweig. "But we were interested in inefficient knowledge markets." Groups of people, such as litigators, had immediate needs for experts, who were scattered around the world. "The Internet and the Web could facilitate the creation of virtual think tanks and specialized consulting teams," he said.

There are many expert-witness resources on and off the Web. Defense Research Institute is among the most reputable sources, offering members a database of 50,000 experts, as well as transcripts and resumes. Many other expert resources are indexed at OIC's Internet Directory of Expert Witnesses, and Gayle O'Connor's article and accompanying PowerPoint presentation on the topic can be viewed here at Pro2Net Legal.

RTG, however, has cut a niche as the Mercedes-Benz of expert databases. "I have used other services," noted Kimball R. Anderson, a litigation partner at Chicago's Winston & Strawn, and a fellow at the American College of Trial Lawyers since 1977. He concluded that Round Table Group offers a higher level of expertise. "They have the department chairs, the Nobel Prize winners, the absolute cream of the crop ... You turn to the Round Table Group if you want someone with gold-plated academic credentials."

Mr. Anderson's use of RTG, which he found while surfing the Net, brought an additional windfall: He got his expert, but also netted RTG as a client. "Though I was their client before they became mine," he pointed out.

It was natural for RTG to focus primarily on academics, said Robert K. Hull, the group's in-house counsel and head of litigation. "Professors make excellent consultants and expert witnesses, because such work is a natural extension of their jobs, which is to teach," he explained. "Whether they are teaching students, or seasoned business executives, or a jury while serving as an expert witness, they are teaching, which is what they love to do." Some nonacademics also are on RTG's roster, but the group's slogan is "linking leaders with scholars."

Trial experience usually is a plus in an expert, but not always, Mr. Hull added. "We sometimes get requests for an expert who has never testified." A first-time witness might have more impact and credibility to the jury than someone who is perceived as an oft-hired gun or "professional witness."

Evaluating the Experts

Attorneys generally review eight to 10 candidates, said Mr. Rosenzweig, adding that competition may depress the expert's hourly rate, lowering counsel's costs. RTG receives a percentage of the expert's hourly rate -- anywhere from $50 to $500 per hour -- and only after the expert is retained. Professors offer RTG a "preferred rate," because the group handles their marketing and administrative matters.

RTG's site lists professors' resumes, publications and speeches, as well as subjects on which they have testified. For no charge, the group will prepare a "résumé booklet" of qualified candidates.

RTG also maintains a video library featuring university faculty discussing their respective areas of expertise. Videos can be e-mailed to attorneys for preliminary screening. "We send the résumé and send an e-mail with a video of the professor talking," said Mr. Rosenzweig. "Attorneys like it because it saves them trips to Palo Alto."

Usually, there is an in-person interview before an expert is hired and, during the course of pretrial work, several physical as well as virtual meetings. Technology merely facilitates the screening process, observed Mr. Hull. "Litigation, by its nature, is face-to-face, before a judge and before a jury," he explained. "The technology supplements that." The importance of technology, however, must not be understated.

Typically attorneys phone or e-mail RTG, describing the types of experts they are seeking. For basic matters, attorneys can enter search parameters on the RTG Web site and identify candidates themselves. RTG's information includes feedback from clients after their matters are completed.

"We're not just a matchmaking service," Mr. Rosenzweig emphasized. "We're not a static database. We screen candidates for a particular case, gauge their interest in a matter, and assemble materials for the attorneys, who generally see five to 10 candidates." Once a professor is retained, RTG supports the entire engagement with administrative and billing services and an in-house team of analysts who can help the professor research a topic. Increasingly, RTG also offers educational seminars, both online and offline, on specific subjects, such as doing business in Russia.

Speaking with Kander

At least one RTG expert is pleased with the ease of working with the group, and with the exposure he has garnered as a result. Ronald Kander, associate professor of material science and engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), has worked with on a matter requiring polymer expertise. "I could fill in everything online, fill in statements about my expertise, where I could contribute, my educational background, my list of publications," he said. Billing was done electronically, though RTG.

Prof. Kander, who charges $100-$300 an hour, depending on the type of service, said that it is not unusual to be called directly by a law firm or company for a case, but that such calls usually are local. "By being associated with the Round Table Group," he noted, he "got involved in case out of New York City" that interested him and helped develop the breadth of his teaching.

The matter he is handling required the development of a videotape to describe technical matters to the judge. "The video company is in California, the lawsuit is in New York, and I'm in Virginia -- and it doesn't matter," explained Prof. Kander, adding that he has met the attorneys only five or six times in the 18 months he has been advising them.

The video was placed frame-by-frame on a secure Web site, and each member of the trial team could pull up animations each day and evaluate them. "When we got the videotape, it was perfect," he recalled. "It made a big, big difference." A complex scientific concept was presented, in animations and graphics, to an intelligent but not particularly science-savvy judge.

Witness Woes

Conflicts and delays are big problems for experts. An otherwise perfect expert can be barred from a case for having received research funds from a company or institution whose interests are at stake in a matter. In addition, the uncertain time frame of litigation deters some people from cases. A professor might be interviewed several times by different counsel on a case without being retained -- hence, without being paid. "It's a problem," acknowledged Mr. Rosenzweig.

If a case's time demands are daunting, said Prof. Kander, "it's not fair for me to take it on." Virginia Tech, like many universities, has well-defined rules governing faculty consulting. "For us, it's a maximum of one day a week during the academic year," he explained, and disclosure forms must be sent to the dean, especially if any classes might be missed.

It is RTG's creative use of technology that appeals to attorneys. "They've gotten more sophisticated about disseminating information about the expert," observed Mr. Anderson, who has used the service almost since its inception. "They're using the Internet to its fullest capacity."

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