Forensic companies across the United States are facing an increasingly severe problem, namely: the shortage of experts with experience in testifying at deposition and trial.
These companies include forensic: accounting, computer, engineering, and valuation, as well as many other forensic specialties. The forensic companies face pressures from several sources.
Click here for the entire articleUnfortunately, we hear from experts, all too often (probably on a monthly basis), about the difficulty they are having getting paid from attorneys after the case is completed/settled. I recently spoke with an expert's wife who indicated that her husband (the expert) is owed approximately $150,000 over the course of a few years, by attorneys who promised to pay, but never did. She didn't know what to do to try and collect all, or even part of the money that was owed to him.
I spoke with another expert who was looking for a collection agency, as he was owed by attorneys as well.
The bottom line is, that it is very difficult to get paid after the fact. We advise experts to get paid in advance, and you can eliminate this potential issue.
Do any of you have similar stories or advice for your colleagues who are having trouble getting paid?
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Some of our most popular customized expert witness training subjects include:
Testifying Skills For Expert Witnesses
Expert Witness Report Writing
Law School For Expert Witnesses
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Meeting your needs - We will develop highly custom training to enhance and improve your organizations expert witness skills. Customized material to fit your organization’s training needs.
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How to bring SEAK's expert witness training to your organization.
If you would like to work with us in this regard, please call Steve Babitsky, Esq. at (508) 548-9443 or via e-mail at stevenbabitsky@seak.com or visit www.seak.com
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From The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES—John B. Torkelsen, who made tens of millions of dollars as an expert witness in hundreds of business lawsuits, agreed to plead guilty to a perjury charge for lying about how he was paid in a securities class-action case, prosecutors said.
Torkelsen entered the plea agreement Thursday in a federal court in Philadelphia and could face up to five years in prison. The case was filed by prosecutors in Los Angeles. Torkelsen, 62, of Princeton, N.J., agreed to plead guilty to submitting a false declaration in a case filed in 1999 in a federal court in San Jose, prosecutors said.
A message left Friday for Bryan Daly, Torkelsen's attorney, was not immediately returned.
Among other things, the case against him involves an alleged illegal contingency deal with a New York law firm.
A statement released by prosecutors did not name the firm but it was identified as Milberg, Weiss by the Los Angeles Daily Journal, which cited unnamed attorneys familiar with the matter.
Milberg, Weiss and some of its partners have been accused of drumming up lucrative business by paying $11.3 million in kickbacks to people who became plaintiffs in lawsuits targeting major companies such as AT&T and Microsoft. Seven people have pleaded guilty in that case.
Torkelsen appeared as an expert witness for plaintiffs in hundreds of class-action and shareholder lawsuits. He submitted more than $60 million in bills between 1993 and 1996,
prosecutors said.
But in a court appearance last November, the man who once arrived at court in a chauffeured limousine said he was out of money. According to the plea agreement, Torkelsen unlawfully reached fee-shifting deals with several law firms that allowed them to avoid $7 million in fees.
Law firms that hired Torkelsen told the various courts that he was an independent expert and by law could not be paid based on the result of a case, prosecutors said.
But law firms secretly paid Torkelsen on a contingency basis and he concealed the arrangement from the courts, prosecutors said.
Normally, a law firm will pay an expert witness even if it loses a case, but Torkelsen was accused of submitting inflated bills only in successful cases, meaning the defendants paid him.
Torkelsen already is serving a five-year federal sentence in West Virginia in an unrelated case for defrauding the U.S. Small Business Administration.
An expert witness charging $1,000 per hour was the star attraction last week at the malpractice trial of law firm Thompson Coburn.
Over the previous three weeks, Madison County Circuit Judge Daniel Stack had been lucky to have a single spectator in his courtroom to witness the legal malpractice case against Thompson Coburn.That changed dramatically February 27, as Stack's third floor courtroom was jammed with legal professionals from every field: trial attorneys, probate lawyers, prosecutors, public defenders and even judges came by to witness the day's proceedings.
The expert witness, attorney Tom Keefe, took the stand to explain to jurors why, in his opinion, Thompson Coburn committed malpractice while representing Magna Bank. He said he agreed to appear to "make amends for the two-week brain fart" he had when he represented fellow lawyer Stephen Tillery in a case years ago and is donating his appearance fee to charity.
The trial originally began on Feb. 4 and was slated to last four to six weeks. But lengthy examinations by Rex Carr and the constant objections and fierce bickering are slowing progress in one of the most dramatic and complicated civil trials ever held in Madison County.
From the Madison County Record
Let's just say, these are two very interesting videos of expert witness depositions, enjoy:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RjtnRmy0H-U
http://youtube.com/watch?v=td-KKmcYtrM&feature=related
