An Expert’s Expert
Business is booming. Did I mention that I’m retired? Have I explained about how after 45 years of being in harness, I’m working hard at trying to relax more and be less focused on achievement orientation? Well, I seem to be doing something wrong here because the work just seems to be coming at me more and more rather than less and less. And here’s the thing that I have to admit, I’m not altogether unhappy about it. I like being of service and I like being engaged. The hell with that, I like being wanted and maybe even needed a bit. The teaching business seems to be following the retirement path, but not so for the expert witness game.
Last week I met an opposition witness who had left the financial services business in 1990 and has spent the last thirty-three years doing expert witness work. He told me he has done 1,800 cases at this point. That averages to 55 cases per year, which is astounding. If you aggressively assume that each case takes an average of three months to works its way through, that means he is handling something like 10-15 cases at any one time. It is unclear to me how someone can give the proper attention to a case with that load, even working full-time. If he works 60 hour weeks that means he is giving each case only an average of 55 hours apiece. My average case has been about three times as much time. I know for a fact that this expert spent 11 days just listening to the testimony on this case, so a total of 100 hours and that doesn’t include all the prep work he must have done. I suppose he might have an inordinate number of cases that don’t make it to the testimony stage, but he did say he gave testimony on a different case two weeks ago and has another in two weeks, so it sounds like he is apace to take at least 25% of his cases to the testimony stage. In other words, I’m having a hard time reconciling his numerical workload. I will also say that he heard me explain to the opposing attorney what my hourly rate was and commented to me that his rate (which he recently raised) is about half my rate. Actually, his rate was 53% of my rate as established two years ago when I took on this case. His current rate is now 45% of my current rate. And here’s the thing, he told me he is 81 years old. Pretty amazing for an expert who stopped actively working in the industry at age 48.
My expert witness firm has recently asked me to prepare and give Masterclasses about the expert witness process for recently added experts on our team. At this stage I have more expert experience than any others on the team and given my professorial status, they thought it would be something I could do better than most, so I agreed. I broke the curriculum down into two separate classes and have already given the first of those classes to three groups of new experts. The response was quite positive, and there has been active interest in giving the second class. The first class was on all the preparations prior to the actual court process. The second class is about jurisdiction, depositions and testimony. I was supposed to give the first of these second classes last week, but the extension of the arbitration proceedings forced me to postpone the class. There is a certain irony in having to postpone a class about testimony due to being too busy giving testimony. I guess it sort of speaks to the issue of why they asked me to share my wisdom about the process with the new recruits.
All of these new experts are serious domain experts with a fair modicum of grey hair, as they say. These are not rookie practitioners, but some have a little expert witness experience and most have none whatsoever. To put it into perspective, I have done a dozen or more cases in the past three years, just a hair shy of the presumed 165 done during that time by my 81-year-old colleague. Most practitioners in the realm of Wall Street have spent some time in litigation, but usually as claimants, defendants or fact witnesses. The specific procedures and requirements of expert witnesses is generally new to them. It certainly was to me before I had done it a few times. In fact, I would have loved to have had someone like me with experience to teach me a few things about what to expect at the various stages of these cases.
At the beginning of last week, I had four active cases and several more “on the hoof” that we expected might come my way based on initial inquiries and interviews. One of those cases had its depositions in January and will come to trial later in the year. In the mean time, it is quiet, which is normal. Another case was last busy advancing towards report submission in December. I had already produced a 60-page report draft and am still awaiting comments. I have been told that we are approaching the revised due date for the reports and that we were re-initiating activity next week. That will likely make for lots of work to be done with the finishing touches during June. The third case recently went through a mediation, which I consulted on and has been resolved via settlement, so my services are no longer needed. The case I testified on last week is getting resumed in early November (the first commonly available date for the two sides and the arbitration panel). I have been told that I will be needed during that two week stint in November and perhaps in the intervening months as they strategize about the next steps. I think they realized that my expertise in the specific financial arena proved very valuable in their claims against the opposing side and they want my involvement more now than ever. I also feel the client families took a liking to me and were impressed by my performance on the stand and that has stood me in good stead with all of them.
In the middle of last week, I got a request from my team to make myself available for a new case that has come up that is perfect for my profile and experience. In fact, they approached the firm specifically to seek me out since one of my prior cases from a few years ago that went particularly well for the claimant was very similar and they wanted me involved on their case. We had that call today and we were pretty much awarded the business on the spot after a one hour conversation reaffirming the quality of the fit. It was exactly how you want an interview to go. They wanted me for the spot and it is exactly the sort of claimant work for “widows and orphans” against the big, bad financial services giant that I most enjoy undertaking. Naturally, the first stage of the work will take place over the next month, so its suddenly shaping up like a very busy summer for me.
When I spoke to my “boss”, who brought the opportunity to me (even though they had come specifically to ask for me), he suggested that my rate should be offered out at a slightly higher rate, which is tantamount to a raise for me. I’m almost 70 years old and have been working for 47 years and it still gives me a thrill when someone gives me a raise. What can I say, old habits die hard. So, I am back to having four active cases and still have a few others on the hoof that I might still be adding to my roster. And now I have to still give those three second Masterclasses about depositions and testimony. I don’t know exactly how this all happened, but I guess this all makes me an expert’s expert. I just hope I can fix this before I get to age 81.