Posted on January 17, 2007 3:52 PM |Permalink|TrackBacks (0)

Dear Friends,

Today we launch the inaugural issue of The Expert Advisor, designed for a select group of our most esteemed clients and prospective customers who have requested information about expert witness services. The Expert Advisor will provide its readers with a "slight edge," by showing you how to quickly locate, prepare and utilize preeminent, unbiased experts--better than your opponents.

We'll share stories from the trenches--first hand accounts from top litigators about how they found and trained experts. In Traffic Analysis Expert Witness Vital For Case To Build New Hospital, you'll learn how Matthew D. Jenkins, a partner at Hunton & Williams in Richmond, and his expert, Dr. Hobeika, helped MediCorp get a new hospital--and how they may have saved thousands of lives in the process.

We'll also provide guidance, strategies, and tactics for finding and working with experts based on Round Table Group's 13 years of locating, assessing and presenting experts to top lawyers. In this issue, we present Tips for Finding the Right Academic Expert.

We want to create a dialogue with The Expert Advisor. We'll keep you posted about upcoming events of potential interest to litigators. Likewise, please share your own experiences.

Thanks for reading the inaugural issue of The Expert Advisor. Look for our next issue in the coming months. Our goal is to help you win cases on the rigor of your strategy, the clarity of your vision and the speed of your execution.

Regards,

Russ W. Rosenzweig, CEO
Round Table Group, Inc.

Posted on January 17, 2007 3:15 PM |Permalink|TrackBacks (0)

Do you seek a toxicologist to support a claim that a person's cancer was linked to on-the-job chemical exposure? What about a mechanical engineer to compare a client's technology to that of a competitor in a patent infringement suit? Or is it a damages matter in a highly specialized industry, where your usual experts for damages determinations have no experience?

No search for an expert is the same, but no matter the field, there are methods to expedite the time-consuming process of finding the right relevant and high-quality experts.

One proven method for finding experts is hunting at appropriate universities for academic experts.

The advantage of academic experts

Aaron Yoho puts it like this: "Academics often teach as part of their profession. As a result, they are frequently very good at explaining complicated topics to relative laymen!"

Academics also have a reputation for being more neutral than an industry expert in the same field. An industry expert may be involved with a competitor of one or both of the litigants, whereas an academic is much less likely to have such conflicts. However, increasingly, companies are funding university departments or individual research projects, so it is important to do rigorous conflict checking in this regard.

Here's how the Round Table Group research team goes about finding exactly the right academic expert for a given case.

Before you get started: general online topic research

Chris Armstrong, Vice President of General Operations with Round Table Group, notes that "it is often difficult to determine exactly what department in the university deals with the subject matter of a particular case. Many universities have several departments in which a potentially qualified professor may work."

As a result, knowing which department's faculty roster to review can often determine whether your search will be successful or not.

Armstrong says you can save yourself time in the long run by building a better understanding of your topic through general online topic research, particularly if you need to know how a borderline topic will be categorized departmentally.

Search for on-topic journal articles

According to Sean Levine, you should review on-topic journal articles on the Internet. Articles on a given topic almost always exist. Some can be found free-of-charge online, but some are only available on fee-based subscription sites such as LexisNexis, or JSTOR (The Scholarly Journal Archive).

Determine who the journal article authors are, note experts quoted within the article, and review bibliographies and citations for other linkages with experts. "Then," Levine says, "review the articles in some detail to make sure the authors seem to have appropriate expertise." Often you can find their contact information by searching Superpages, or on university faculty contact Web pages.

Vet potential experts' bios

Sometimes a professor's Web page and bio will not be entirely instructive on whether they have the expertise to address the issue in the case, Armstrong says.

He continues: "Ideally, a perfect expert will have published on the exact topic or matter at issue in a case, no matter how obscure. An expert who has published on the precise topic will almost always trump an opposing expert with general expertise in the field, but not on the specific point at issue."

That makes it necessary to review the professor's publication list, a task that involves a lot of intricate research and time. Often, it is necessary to follow up with a potential candidate by contacting them and interesting them in qualifying themselves for the case by providing further materials in support of their expertise on the topic.

Local university experts vs. specialized university experts

Levine says that experts from local universities may be less expensive and appreciated for certain kinds of juries. But, because the possible pool of candidates is reduced, the search can be more difficult.

And, while adequate experts can be found at local universities by using the methodologies described in this article, it's important to note that they may not carry the same clout as an expert from a prestigious university or one specializing in the topic.

Rankings of departments in certain subject matter areas are available from a few sources, such as US News & World Report and similar publications, but these rankings may not always be directly applicable to your search. Another good method for discovering top programs is to ask any contacts you may have in adjacent fields.

Experience cuts search time

As you search for multiple experts over time, you can learn which schools to rely on for scholars specializing in particular subject areas. Knowing the reputations of many top universities and their departments helps Round Table Group's researchers find experts more quickly.

Levine says if you can determine which universities are the most prominent in the field, you can then use Advanced Google Search to search within university databases to help find the top academics in your subject area.

Finding out information about university specialties can be worthwhile, but time-consuming. Someone who has already cultivated these relationships and this specialized knowledge may be able to help you find the quality experts you need more quickly.

Round Table Group actually got its start by recruiting professors as experts, and now has a large network of university-based academic experts, which gives them a built-in networking and referral advantage. For more information about how Round Table Group's researchers can connect you with the right expert, go here.

Aaron Yoho, Chris Armstrong and Sean Levine are all members of Round Table Group's expert research team.

Posted on January 17, 2007 2:57 PM |Permalink|TrackBacks (0)

by Lisa Fields

The idyll of a quiet Saturday at home shatters when the phone rings. It's your teenage son, talking fast through pain and panic. He took a nasty spill while skateboarding at the park down the street from your house. His leg is broken.

You rush to get him to the hospital, but the highway is more parking lot than roadway. The 30-minute drive to your closest hospital is agony for both of you.

If you're a resident of Stafford County, Virginia, the above example can often be a reality. The simple convenience of quickly getting to the nearest hospital, Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, isn't always possible because of traffic tie-ups.

A new hospital in Stafford

Increases in regional traffic volume and population growth prompted MediCorp Health System--the non-profit health system that owns Mary Washington Hospital--to pursue the idea of building a new hospital in Stafford to serve its growing community.

They believed that by 2015, it would take most Stafford County residents more than half an hour to reach Mary Washington Hospital, which was an unacceptably long travel time for a densely populated suburban region.

In Virginia, persons wishing to build new medical care facilities are required to get a Certificate of Public Need from the state health commissioner, a process that includes an administrative hearing, known as an informal fact-finding conference (IFFC).

Matthew D. Jenkins, a partner at Hunton & Williams in Richmond, handled the case for MediCorp.

The right expert to validate traffic jam predictions

Jenkins needed to find an expert witness who could prove to an administrative hearing officer that his client's traffic-jam predictions had merit. He contacted the Round Table Group for help.

"I was looking for someone to effectively model the present and future burdens on a roadway system," Jenkins says. "I didn't just need a traffic engineer. I needed an expert who could predict future traffic patterns. An additional requirement was familiarity with the Virginia highway system. The Round Table Group gave me one name: Antoine Hobeika."

Finding an individual with traffic prediction expertise, particularly for the Virginia area, was no easy task. Mark Swansiger acted as the researcher for Round Table Group. As he says, "Because this was a niche issue, finding Dr. Hobeika was a particularly difficult and time-consuming process."

Swansiger began with a search of Round Table Group's extensive internal database of experts, and performed scholarly journal searches through Google Scholar™ (Beta). Even with his impressive search skills, he was unable to turn up the right person quickly. "It wasn't as helpful as I'd hoped--there's not a lot written about transportation patterns in Virginia."

Swansiger researched Virginia universities, looking for solid transportation departments or statistics departments, keeping an eye peeled for programs with any emphasis on traffic patterns.

Swansiger's diligence paid off when he found Dr. Antoine Hobeika at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Hobeika was a miracle find, working at one of the best civil engineering departments in the state. In fact, Dr. Hobeika periodically does work for the state of Virginia regarding these same types of topics.

Dr. Hobeika, an engineering professor at Virginia Tech, specializes in traffic analysis and knows the state's roadways well. Swansiger prepared a Knowledge Portfolio, which included Hobeika's personal statement (a summary of his experiences in relationship to the topic), billing rates, and a formatted, easy-to-read resume, and presented it to Jenkins.

"A flexible thinker, curious and open-minded"

Jenkins and Hobeika met several times over a six-month period to discuss the case before the IFFC.

Jenkins thinks Hobeika may have initially doubted that future traffic patterns would indicate the need for a hospital in Stafford County, but when he studied the data, he realized it was true.

"You want an expert who is a flexible thinker, curious and open-minded, who is very comfortable discussing a case at the concept level," says Jenkins. "He did a brilliant job of developing a cohesive presentation: how the highway system would look, why the site proposed by MediCorp made the most sense and how it would improve timely access to hospital services. One alternative that had to be ruled out was the suggestion to make the existing hospital bigger. We needed to show that an addition wouldn't make the people in Stafford County any closer to the hospital, based on existing and future traffic congestion."

Hobeika developed a computer simulation of the Stafford County roadway network in the year 2015.

Vital testimony

Jenkins wisely brought his expert on early enough in the process for him to have sufficient time to get the job done. He advised that "it probably took Dr. Hobeika three months to put together his computer simulation. It would have been impossible for him to accomplish what he did in the span of a month."

As a result, "he could demonstrate, almost like turning on a water faucet, how traffic would flow, down to the phasing of the traffic signals," Jenkins says. "He figured out how much traffic is on the roads now, what the configuration of the roads would likely be in 2015, how much traffic will exist then and where people will live, to show that a substantial proportion of the Stafford County population will be more than 30 minutes away from Mary Washington Hospital."

Hobeika was the only traffic expert on the roster speaking on behalf of the MediCorp project in the course of a two-day IFCC in May.

"He was one of our principal witnesses," says Jenkins. "His testimony was vital for demonstrating the need for that hospital at that location. Dr. Hobeika provided a layperson's explanation of what we were trying to prove. He did an outstanding job."

In August, MediCorp was granted permission to build a new facility, Stafford Hospital Center, which is expected to open in 2009.

Lisa Fields can be reached at Lisa.F@BeTuitive.com.

Posted on January 17, 2007 1:00 PM |Permalink|TrackBacks (0)

If you have an upcoming event that you would like to publicize to our readers, please call 202-595-2000 ext. 538.

Round Table Group Consultations

Round Table Group representatives will be giving complementary expert search consultations in the following locations in the coming months:

Location	Date
San Jose, Palo Alto, and San Francisco, CA	January 21-23, 2007
San Diego, CA	February 1, 2007
Miami, FL	February 7-9, 2007
Cincinnati, OH	March, 2007
Hong Kong, Manila, Tokyo, and Singapore	Mid-March, 2007
Richmond, VA	March 23, 2007

Please contact us if you would like to arrange a consultation, or for more information.

Conferences

American Bar Association Midyear Meeting 2007
The Midyear Meeting brings together more than 3,000 lawyers and their families. While the Midyear Meeting does not match that of the Annual Meeting, the volume of business that occurs does. In addition to the House of Delegates convening at the Midyear Meeting to review recommendations submitted by various entities of the Association, some Section and Association committees also meet to review the business of their groups. The Midyear Meeting hosts the Nominating Committee of the House of Delegates, which nominates the Association's Officers and members of the Board of Governors. The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation hold their Annual Meeting during the ABA's Midyear Meeting.

February 7-13, 2007, Miami, FL

LexisNexis Securities Litigation Conference
Stock Option Backdating and Executive Compensation
Respond to the latest securities scandal: the investigations, litigation and new SEC rules.

Feb. 15-16, 2007, The Four Seasons Palo Alto, CA

Mealey's The Art of Negotiation Conference: Successfully Negotiating Mass Tort & Class Action Settlements
Negotiation techniques for Mass Tort and Class Action Settlements

Jan. 29-30, 2007, Hyatt Century Plaza, Los Angeles

4th National In-House Counsel Conference on Managing Complex Litigation

Ensuring corporate control over litigation strategies

Tuesday, February 6, 2007 to Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Park Central Hotel, New York, NY, United States

A Practical Introduction to Patents - Comprehensive foundingation course

This one-day course has been designed to enable people to work in practice with the patent system by providing a practical introduction to basic national and international patent law. It will place patents within the wider context of intellectual property rights, outline the basic steps required to obtain a typical patent, and consider infringement and remedies. The role of patents as property and business tools will also be considered, and will conclude with a look at current developments and future proposals for reform and harmonisation of patent law worldwide.

February 9, 2007
The Rembrandt Hotel
11 Thurloe Place
London, SW7, England

58th Annual Oil and Gas Law Conference

Highlights:
- Deans of Oil and Gas Practice Lecture Luncheon: Featuring Prof. Bruce M. Kramer, Texas Tech University School of Law
- Optional Concurrent sessions on key developments in:
- Energy Outlook and Trends--Technologies for the Future
- Evolution of the Lawyer/Client Relationship
- Top 10 Recent Court Decisions Challenging the Oil and Gas Industry
- Jurors' Perspectives of the Energy Industry
- The Aftermath of Enron
- What to Expect in a Criminal Investigation
- Lessons Learned after the 2005 Hurricanes
- Coastal States' Impacts on Federal Offshore Leasing
- Litigation and Arbitration with State-Owned Oil Companies
- Oil Sands Eevelopment in North America
- Investing in Canadian Tar Sands
- Development in LNG Imports and Offshore Wind Energy

February 15, 2007 - February 16, 2007
Intercontinental Houston Hotel
2222 West Loop South
Houston, Texas 75024, United States

International Arbitration, Mediation and Litigation

Ten specialist panels will examine contemporary issues such as the decision to arbitrate and the alternatives, cultural considerations in international arbitration, the agreement to arbitrate, appointment of arbitrators, institutional rules, interim measures, international context of alternate dispute, pre-hearing management, use of experts, drafting the arbitration clause, discovery, mediating disputes, enforcement of judgments, litigation in banking and finance, securities litigation, litigation of trade secrets/confidentiality agreements, the UCC, real estate litigation, bankruptcy litigation, aviation litigation, class actions, patent trademark and copyright litigation, personal injury, shareholder litigation, and damages.

February 11, 2007 - February 17, 2007
Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center
Steamboat Springs, Colorado, United States

Petition Drafting Skills for Attorneys and Paralegals

This training seminar is only intended for attorneys or legal professionals working under the direction of an attorney. It is designed to increase the skills for drafting bankruptcy petitions. This skill is not taught in any legal related training course; however, the high level of detail needed to draft bankruptcy petitions after the law changed has increased dramatically. Once you master the skill of drafting well detailed bankruptcy petitions, you will become an invaluable asset to the attorney(s) who employ you for this service. The attorney also finds the significant importance when he or she files well detailed bankruptcy petitions prepared by trained bankruptcy assistants. Not only is the paperwork reduced within the law firm but the profits increase significantly.

February 23, 2007 - February 24, 2007
Holiday Inn Express
5977 Mowry Avenue
Newark, California 94560, United States

Navigating Trademark Practice Before the PTO 2007: From Filing Through the TTAB Hearing

A federal trademark or service mark registration can be a very valuable business asset. The Patent and Trademark Offices consider applications for registrations. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board hears appeals when the Patent and Trademark Office refuses to register a mark and conducts contested proceedings between parties litigating the right to register a mark. Because these issues are often part of larger disputes regarding the right to use marks in both the conventional marketplace, as well as in e-commerce, a basic understanding of TTAB practice and procedure is an important part of the skills required of intellectual property lawyers in the new economy. The program will also review the key changes under the recently enacted Trademark Revision Dilution Act.

February 22, 2007 - February 23, 2007
PLI New York Center
810 Seventh Avenue
New York, New York 10019, United States

3rd Annual E-Discovery & Litigation Readiness for Life Sciences

Aligning corporate practices with litigators' needs

Tuesday, February 27, 2007 to Wednesday, February 28, 2007
The Affinia Manhattan, New York, NY, United States

3rd Advanced Forum on Import Compliance & Enforcement

Tuesday, March 13, 2007 to Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Venue TBD, Washington, DC Area, United States 

Premier Conference on Developing and Investing in Green Buildings

Making Money in a New Environment

Thursday, February 22, 2007 to Friday, February 23, 2007
Embassy Suites Hotel New York, New York, NY, United States

6th National Conference on Managing Legal Risks in Structuring & Conducting Clinical Trials

Tuesday, February 27, 2007 to Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Roosevelt Hotel, New York, NY, United States
Plus! Intensive 1-day Master Class on: Managing Legal Risks in Structuring & Conducting
INTERNATIONAL CLINICAL TRIALS March 1, 2007

Software IP Strategy Summit

The premier corporate counsel event for portfolio maximization.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007 to Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Sheraton Palo Alto Hotel, Palo Alto, CA, United States

Pharma/Biotech Industry Forum on Patent Portfolio Management

Filling the gaps in your patent strategy

Tuesday, February 27, 2007 to Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Park Central New York, New York, NY, United States

Premier National Forum on Negotiating Restaurant Leases

Finding common ground, minimizing risk, and maximizing rights & profit

Thursday, February 22, 2007 to Friday, February 23, 2007
THEhotel at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, NV, United States