By Gina F. Rubel
Special to the Legal
In September, The Legal Intelligencer hosted its first annual Litigation Summit in Philadelphia. The program included six continuing legal education credits and covered the latest developments and concerns within the legal profession. As a program partner, session mediator and social media enthusiast, I took it upon myself to tweet about many of the excellent tips and information provided by the panelists on myriad litigation topics. Because this was an all-day program with a great deal of information to digest, I’m going to break it down into various blogs by topic.
Michael Adler, a partner at Weber Gallagher Simpson Stapleton Fires & Newby, co-presented with David Glusman of Marcum LLP on "Working with Economic Damages Experts.” Some of the advice on what attorneys should look for in selecting the right expert witness and tips on how attorneys and experts can work together more effectively through discovery, preparation of expert reports and trial included:
• Benefits to using economic experts are that they can summarize voluminous data, provide clarity to arcane subjects and refute opposing party assertions.
• Economic reports should be thorough, relevant, based on client feedback, case theory and in fact, realistic and credible.
• An expert’s analysis of complex data can clarify the litigation story and make it easier for a judge or jury to understand.
• Complex damage issues in litigation that often necessitate the need for an economic expert include business interruption/delay issues, business valuation, investment performance, securities fraud and employee embezzlement.
• Economic expert information is all in the details and the formulas used – it is very technical.
• Lawyers need to share legal theories with forensic accountants for accounting experts to provide more valuable data review.
• When asked if the "lawyer wrote the forensic" report, he or she should always be able to say no. Let the experts do their job.
Gina F. Rubel is the owner of Furia Rubel Communications, a strategic marketing and public relations agency with a niche in legal marketing. A former trial attorney, she is the author of Everyday Public Relations for Lawyers. Rubel and her agency have won many awards for legal communications, PR, media relations, website and graphic design, strategic planning, corporate philanthropy and leadership. She maintains a blog, is a contributor to National Law Review, The Legal Intelligencer Blog, AVVO Lawyernomics and The Huffington Post. You can find her on LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter. For more information, go to www.FuriaRubel.com.
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