to you. If you don’t understand a part of their presentation, press your expert to re-word, re-work and re-articulate until a 10-year-old can understand it. If you, the lawyer, cannot understand it, that doesn’t foreshadow a good outcome. If the presentation is clunky or too esoteric, you need to work closely with your expert to iron out those wrinkles. Also, do not be afraid to change boats mid-stream. If you begin to doubt your expert’s integrity, their organization or their ability to effectively present their material, remember the economics law of sunk costs: it is irrelevant how much you paid for that expert up to this point. If you have too many doubts, then all those costs are sunk costs and are irrelevant to your future consideration. I recently had an expert who I had paid tens of thousands of dollars. But her work product was consistently late, her billing errors were significant and her file organization left something to be desired. It was painful to abandon the time and investment I had put in that expert, but I realized there was no way I could go to trial with her when I did not even trust her to send me a report from the correct case. So, we switched. And boy what a difference it made! Investing in Experts Early There are ways we can cut costs and save money prosecuting our claims. Going cheap on our experts is not one of them. The best experts are not always the most expensive (I know this from experience), but the best experts are also rarely cheap. In the end, it also pays off to invest money in quality experts early in the case. It can be painful to invest tens of thousands in experts where we think the case may settle before we even disclose the experts. But that is the deal we signed up for and having those experts on board early will increase your confidence when you mediate or otherwise negotiate a settlement on the case. If you are having trouble affording those upfront costs, find somebody to co-counsel with. Find a way. There is much more to say and even more to debate. There are many others who understand and have refined these principles much better than I. Others will no doubt have much to say or criticize about what I’ve written. Listen to them. They likely have much wiser words than I. If nothing else, I can pass along this simple checklist: • Find your experts early • Evaluate them thoroughly • Pay them on time • Do not despair the upfront costs (because it will almost always pay for itself) • Never, ever underestimate what they bring to your case. You will not regret it. Retaining and Using Experts continued from p. 17 “If you begin to doubt your expert’s integrity, their organization or their ability to effectively present their material … it is irrelevant how much you paid for that expert up to this point. If you have too many doubts, then all those costs are sunk costs and are irrelevant to your future consideration.” 18 Trial Lawyer | Winter 2025
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