{"id":35118,"date":"2016-03-31T19:28:37","date_gmt":"2016-04-01T00:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.findlaw-admin.com\/ability-legal\/uncategorized\/how-to-vet-an-expert.html"},"modified":"2023-02-14T12:51:45","modified_gmt":"2023-02-14T17:51:45","slug":"how-to-vet-an-expert","status":"publish","type":"corporate","link":"https:\/\/corporate.findlaw.com\/law-library\/how-to-vet-an-expert.html","title":{"rendered":"How to Vet an Expert"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

This article was edited and reviewed by FindLaw Attorney Writers<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n | Last reviewed\n

\n \n <\/i>\n Legally Reviewed\n <\/summary>\n\n
\n

This article has been written and reviewed for legal accuracy, clarity, and style by FindLaw\u2019s team of legal writers and attorneys<\/a> and in accordance with our editorial standards<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/details>\n\n

\n \n <\/i>\n Fact-Checked\n <\/summary>\n\n
\n

The last updated date refers to the last time this article was reviewed by FindLaw or one of our contributing authors<\/a>. We make every effort to keep our articles updated. For information regarding a specific legal issue affecting you, please contact an attorney in your area<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/details>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

Editor's Note: This article was originally published in BullsEye, a newsletter distributed by IMS Expert Services.<\/em><\/font><\/p>

Experts, sad to say, are not always honest about their credentials, as several recent news items confirm. Knowing how to verify the background of an expert – whether yours or your opponent's – could prove critical to your case.<\/font><\/p>

In perhaps the most dramatic recent example, a New Orleans<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> federal judge threw out a jury verdict in favor of pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. after a cardiologist who testified for the defense in a Vioxx trial was found to have misrepresented his credentials.<\/font><\/p>

A few weeks earlier in California<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, a man who fraudulently passed himself off as a computer forensics expert in two cases pleaded guilty to federal perjury charges. In Toronto<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, a psychiatrist had his license suspended after lying about his credentials while serving as an expert witness in two trials.<\/font><\/p>

These cases illustrate why it is crucial for trial lawyers to confirm that an expert is all he claims to be. Vetting an expert's credentials should be a key step in your trial preparation.<\/font><\/p>

Major legal research services provide many tools for checking an expert's background, from public records databases to deposition banks. But these major services can be expensive to use and still leave bases uncovered.<\/font><\/p>

At the same time, the Web harbors a variety of resources and tools that contain potentially valuable information but that many lawyers overlook in researching an expert's background.<\/font><\/p>

Yes, we all now know to check Google, but this article looks at some of the lesser-known – and mostly free – research tools you may be bypassing. Of course, these Web tools are neither foolproof nor exhaustive. No Web site can substitute for using a reputable expert-search service.<\/font><\/p>

Words Can Haunt You<\/font><\/b><\/p>

The old adage, "What you say may come back to haunt you," has never been more true. With millions of people posting to blogs and participating in Internet discussion groups, we are creating permanent records of our words and thoughts – like it or not.<\/font><\/p>

In light of this, the blogosphere should be among your first stops in researching an expert's background. Does the expert maintain a blog? If so, has he said anything there you<\/i> might regret. Has he posted comments to others' blogs. Have others written about him, positively or negatively, on their own blogs?<\/font><\/p>

The best tool for searching blogs is Google Blog Search<\/b> <<\/font>http:\/\/blogsearch.google.com<\/font><\/a>>. Like Google's Web search, it is comprehensive and up to date. You can sort results by date or relevance, and you can search blogs in multiple languages.<\/font><\/p>

A close second for searching blogs is Clusty<\/b> <<\/font>http:\/\/blogs.clusty.com<\/font><\/a>>. Clusty is not a search engine – it does not crawl or index the Web. Rather, it is a metasearch tool that calls on other blog search engines, extracts the relevant information, and then organizes the results into a hierarchical folder structure – which it calls "clusters." With this unique approach, it provides results that are both comprehensive and usefully organized.<\/font><\/p>

Another source of potentially damaging comments by or about an expert is the Internet's many news groups and discussion lists. To find postings someone made to one of these, search Google Groups<\/b> <<\/font>http:\/\/groups.google.com<\/font><\/a>>. It hosts a variety of current groups as well as an archive of more than 750 million Usenet postings dating back to 1985.<\/font><\/p>

As podcasts become more popular, they also should be included in a background search. Perhaps the person you are researching said something pertinent in a podcast or was the subject of someone else's podcast comment. Several sites claim to search podcasts, but most of these actually search only the accompanying text – the title, description, author and any metadata – but not the audio file.<\/font><\/p>

A handful of tools now enable you to search the full spoken text of podcasts. One of the best is Podzinger<\/b> <<\/font>www.podzinger.com<\/font><\/a>>. It is based on speech-recognition technology developed for U.S.<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> intelligence to monitor foreign television and radio broadcasts. It uses this technology to create a textual index of the audio data in any MP3 or WAV file, converting the spoken words into searchable text.<\/font><\/p>

Networking Sites<\/font><\/b><\/p>

Where professionals once networked at cocktail parties and civic events, today you are more likely to find them connecting through any of a number of networking Web sites. The most popular at the moment is LinkedIn<\/b> <<\/font>www.linkedin.com<\/font><\/a>> where members post information about their careers and their connections and share mutual recommendations. If your expert is listed on LinkedIn, read his profile carefully. How does his listing compare with what he has provided to you? Also, look for references from others and examine his network of connections for any that might help either verify or call into question his background.<\/font><\/p>

Other business networking sites include Ziggs<\/b> <<\/font>www.ziggs.com<\/font><\/a>>, Ryze<\/b> <<\/font>www.ryze.com<\/font><\/a>>, and Orkut<\/b> <<\/font>www.orkut.com<\/font><\/a>>. Of course, be sure also to check personal networking sites such as MySpace<\/b> <<\/font>www.myspace.com<\/font><\/a>> and Facebook<\/b> <<\/font>www.facebook.com<\/font><\/a>>.<\/font><\/p>

Corporate Records<\/font><\/b><\/p>

Anyone researching a publicly traded company would know to check the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's EDGAR<\/b> database <<\/font>www.sec.gov\/edgar.shtml<\/font><\/a>>. But fewer think to search EDGAR for information about individuals, even though it may contain a wealth of information. Corporate filings can provide information on an individual's business affiliations, employment arrangements, investments, and more. Even an individual's education and employment history can sometimes be tracked through EDGAR.<\/font><\/p>

If the expert works in the securities industry, two databases worth checking are NASD BrokerCheck<\/b> <<\/font>www.nasd.com\/InvestorInformation\/InvestorProtection\/NASDW_005882<\/font><\/a>> which provides information on the professional backgrounds of current and former NASD-registered securities firms and brokers, and the<\/font> National Futures Association's Background Affiliation Status Information Center (BASIC)<\/b> <<\/font>www.nfa.futures.org\/basicnet<\/font><\/a>> which does much the same for registered futures dealers.<\/font><\/p>

Historical Web<\/font><\/b><\/p>

Web sites change over time. If your expert has a Web site, what it says today may differ from what it said five years ago. The best way to track historical changes in someone's Web site is through the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine<\/b> <<\/font>www.archive.org<\/font><\/a>>. Here, you can find an archive that captures historical snapshots of sites. While not exhaustive, it is likely to have at least some pages showing earlier versions of a site.<\/font><\/p>

Public Records<\/font><\/b><\/p>

Any number of major research systems sell access to public records. These include LexisNexis<\/b> <<\/font>www.lexis.com<\/font><\/a>>, Westlaw<\/b> <<\/font>www.westlaw.com<\/font><\/a>>, ChoicePoint<\/b> <<\/font>www.choicepoint.net<\/font><\/a>>, and Accurint<\/b> <<\/font>www.accurint.com<\/font><\/a>>. But many public records are now available online for little or no cost. A variety of Web sites help direct you to these online sources of public records.<\/font><\/p>

One of the best is Search Systems<\/b> <<\/font>www.searchsystems.net<\/font><\/a>> with links to nearly 40,000 sources of public records on the Web. It includes links to sources throughout the world, although the greatest number of sources are in the U.S.<\/st1:country-region> and Canada<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place>. Not all sites listed are free, but the site clearly marks those that are not. Among the listings: professional license registrations, corporate records, marriage notices, UCC<\/st1:personname> filings, deed registries, birth and death records, lobbyist listings, physician disciplinary proceedings, and much more.<\/font><\/p>

Other sites that provide directories of public records and information include:<\/font><\/p>