So, for example, one of the clauses that we have in our agreement as an example is the expert will not release a report until he has been paid. So the expert can kind of hold that report as leverage against the lawyer until releasing it. Number two, if it comes down to a collection situation, putting in a clause for attorney’s fees and interest will definitely be of help, okay? You want to have many clauses in the agreement that gives you leverage as an expert witness to ensure collection. What will happen is the contract that’s written with the law firm’s client and it becomes a collection problem, that client may not have any money and the expert may be out of luck, especially if the case is lost. One of the first things that you can do is make sure that the contract that you write is written with the law firm and not the law firm’s client. So there’s a bunch of little, simple things that you can do in your contract to help mitigate this possibility. You know, almost all of them have been stiffed over the course of their careers.

The first problem would be not getting paid, and that’s a very common problem that expert witnesses tend to have. Steve Babitsky: So let’s talk about some of the problems that arise if you don’t have a well drafted expert witness contract. So it’s like the American Express card if we can date ourselves, you don’t want to leave home without one if you’re an expert witness. So without a well written contract, bad things can happen to you as an expert witness, and you really want to have one or you’re going to get taken advantage of or there can really be liability for you.

And a lot of what we field are calls and complaints from experts about how basically they’re getting screwed over by retaining counsel for things that could have been avoidable had they had a well written expert witness contract. We help expert witnesses as the expert witness training company, and we interact with experts on a daily basis. As you know, we deal with expert witnesses. Jim Mangraviti: Okay, well, thanks for the introduction, Steve. Jim, why is it important for experts to have a well drafted expert witness retention agreement? I’m here today with Attorney James Mangraviti, and we’re going to be talking about a very important topic for expert witnesses the expert witness retention contract. I’m Steve Babitsky, President of SEAK, Inc. Expert Witness Contracts – What to Include

Expert witness retention contract pdf