The Leading Authority in
Expert Witness Search & Referral tm
by Lisa Fields
When you search for an expert, where's the first place you go? More than likely, you look to web-based databases. Publicly accessible databases can sometimes yield great information, but subscription-based databases often provide invaluable difficult-to-find leads for locating the ideal expert. These subscriptions often provide that "edge" over the opposition.
Round Table Group's search experts routinely work with a number of databases: the firm's comprehensive internal expert database, free database resources available to the general public and many databases that require subscription--and often a hefty fee.
Three of the experts' favorite subscription-based databases are reviewed below.
ZoomInfo's PowerSearch:
By using a service called ZoomInfo PowerSearch, Round Table Group is able to find and extract comprehensive information on over 34 million business professionals and 2 million companies across virtually every industry. ZoomInfo has created this extensive list of professionals by aggregating online sources such as Web sites, press releases, electronic news services publications and SEC filings.
ZoomInfo's database is searchable by a number of criteria, including work history, education level and company name. Of course, the more you narrow your search, the better the results.
"I have heard attorneys have used it successfully for this purpose," Russell Glass, Vice President of Products and Marketing for ZoomInfo. "By categorizing people in certain industries, you can search for exactly the kind of people you need."
The good news is that ZoomInfo's PowerSearch provides contact information for the people it finds, so you won't have to do a second search to locate them. "Other sites will give you all kinds of information about people, but if you can't contact them, it's not useful," says Round Table Group Research Analyst Clark Johnson.
"Consequently, the use of ZoomInfo can often significantly reduce Round Table Group's search time by allowing our team of researchers to communicate more quickly with potential candidates. In fact, when I find experts in Journal articles or similar sources, I often return to ZoomInfo to locate the experts' contact information."
As Glass says, "experience plays a role. We teach people to start broad and narrow their search from there. There's a new development in ZoomInfo's PowerSearch that provides users with keyword suggestions to help tighten their search."
One downside to this service is that it cannot differentiate between a legitimate source (say, an expert on loss prevention) and a person who is identified in articles on the topic (say, someone arrested for shoplifting), says Johnson. "As a consequence, a user of this service may still have to search through numerous names, in order to ensure that the right candidate has been located."
Monster.com:
Round Table Group research analysts often search the resumes listed on Monster.com to find experts for clients. Accessing Monster.com's extensive database of resumes can be an invaluable resource in locating that hard-to-find expert.
"The principal benefit of using Monster.com," says Round Table Group's Mark Swansiger, "is that it provides a user with easy access to the resumes of lots of people who are currently looking for work, even short-term consulting projects."
"It's certainly an innovative way to use Monster," says Steve Sylven of Monster.com. "I assume you would utilize Monster's resume database in a similar way as a hiring manager or recruiter might. But, instead of conducting a keyword search to match a certain amount of experience for a job opening, you would search more broadly to find someone with expertise in a specified area or industry."
One of the best ways to perform a search in Monster.com is by using a combination of keywords and/or geographic, work experience and level of education restrictions in order to narrow a more general search.
Swansiger adds, "Round Table Group's extensive use of Monster.com has taught our team of research professionals to conduct a number of different searches within this database on an individual topic, because the way people enter their data can influence a search's returns."
Of course, Monster.com is not perfect. "The pool of resumes is huge and includes mostly lower-level job-seekers," says Swansiger. "No matter how you search, a lot of extraneous names will come up. But this just means you need to examine credentials of potential candidates very closely. It's a valuable resource if you're willing to put in the effort."
While Monster.com is the largest online resume database, top experts in a number of fields prefer to do their job searching on other, more specialized sites, so you need to be aware of the resources available to the candidates in whom you are most interested.
LexisNexis:
Many attorneys use LexisNexis for case law searches, but Round Table Group research analysts use the same service to find experts. LexisNexis Vice President Tom Hagy explains, "LexisNexis is a must-have resource for finding experts, due not only to its offering of several premier expert witness directories, JurisPro, for example, but also its vast collection of other expert-finding resources, including LexisNexis Jury Verdicts and Settlements reports, Daubert Tracker Case Reports, and more."
LexisNexis' task-based research platform, TotalLitigator, puts these resources at your fingertips. "Once an expert is identified, LexisNexis also offers in-depth background information," Hagy adds. "By performing a single search through over a dozen databases, including case opinions, agency decisions, verdict reports, news, expert directories, and others, LexisNexis Analyzer allows a researcher to conduct comprehensive, yet efficient, investigative research with respect to an expert."
"We search case law that focuses on the subject matter of the litigation, while looking for previous instances where expert witnesses have gone on the record testifying on similar matters," says Round Table Group's Sean Levine. "Often, doing a keyword search using the word 'expert' and descriptive terms about your subject matter will reveal some promising leads." For instance, searching U.S. case law for the word "expert," within seven words of the phrase "smoke detector," should reveal several people who have testified as expert witnesses regarding smoke detectors.
LexisNexis' biggest flaw as it pertains to locating experts may be that it contains so much information, and can be difficult to navigate as a result. "It is often necessary to get specialized training in order to take advantage of LexisNexis' full capabilities," says Levine. "Fortunately, the LexisNexis customer service team makes it relatively easy to sign up for and receive this type of training."
Comprehensive Searches
Finding the right expert for your case can be a time-consuming, convoluted task. When searching for experts, keep in mind that the most comprehensive search may incorporate all three of these subscription databases, plus a number of smaller, but insightful, niche industry databases. "An appropriate budget for subscription databases for purposes of expert search can easily exceed $10,000 per month," says RTG President Robert Hull. Although access to these databases can be costly, the service they provide is invaluable.
A subscription to these services may not be justified for an attorney or firm locating just one or two experts, though the bigger firms may have some of these subscriptions. So do expert search firms, who can save you the cost, time and effort of subscribing yourself. However, be sure to ask your expert search firm how many subscription databases they utilize in their practice. "If the firm isn't using ZoomInfo, Monster.com, LexisNexis, and other reputable subscription-based search engines, it's cutting corners," says Levine.
For a comprehensive expert search, contact the Round Table Group.
Lisa Fields can be reached at Lisa.F@BeTuitive.com.
©2007 BeTuitive Publishing
Categories
Expert Finding Tips, The Expert Advisor
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this post: 3 Great Databases For Finding Experts
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.roundtablegroup.com/movabletype/mt-tb.cgi/5
Post a comment
This page contains a single entry by posted on March 28, 2007 10:14 AM.
The Transformation of Global Oil, Impact on Legal Services was the previous post in this blog.
The Expert Advisor, Issue 2 is the next post in this blog.
Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.
