{"id":5785,"date":"2017-08-31T14:18:16","date_gmt":"2017-08-31T17:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/?p=5785"},"modified":"2017-08-31T14:18:16","modified_gmt":"2017-08-31T17:18:16","slug":"a-bundle-of-blogs-how-to-manage-the-cost-of-civil-litigation-involving-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/2017\/08\/31\/a-bundle-of-blogs-how-to-manage-the-cost-of-civil-litigation-involving-experts\/","title":{"rendered":"A Bundle of Blogs: How to manage the cost of civil litigation involving experts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The following blogs &#8211; and good reference material in some &#8211;\u00a0will help you manage the cost of civil litigation involving experts.\u00a0 Careful management is necessary because most cases are small or medium sized not big &#8211;\u00a0&#8220;less affluent, not affluent&#8221; to\u00a0reflect comment by The Advocates Society, Ontario. (Ref.\u00a01)\u00a0 Yet lawyers must still prepare before going to trial (Ref. 2) and experts must investigate before giving an opinion &#8211;\u00a0regardless the size of the case.\u00a0\u00a0Proper preparation and investigation\u00a0can be expensive.<\/p>\n<p>These blogs describe things you can do to keep tabs on costs.\u00a0 Some ideas echo the principles followed in the well-developed field of project management.\u00a0 Several suggestions, like the following, stood out as I reviewed my postings\u00a0of the past\u00a0five years:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Retain\u00a0an expert\u00a0early<\/li>\n<li>Retain one according to your needs &#8211; by one count, 10 different ways<\/li>\n<li>Confer with s\/he often<\/li>\n<li>Work together to identify the key technical issues that must be investigated<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There are\u00a0a number of\u00a0helpful suggestions in the following list in addition to the bulleted ones above.\u00a0 The chronological list also gives some idea of how my insight\u00a0has developed over the years.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>list of blogs<\/strong> gives the\u00a0title <strong>in<\/strong> <strong>bold<\/strong> and the date I posted it\u00a0so it&#8217;ll be easy to locate on this site, the one you&#8217;re on\u00a0&#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\">www.ericjorden.com\/blog<\/a> \u00a0 I&#8217;ve reviewed each recently and added a comment on some of the ways each\u00a0posting can help you &#8211;\u00a0read my comments if nothing else:\u00a0 There&#8217;s something for everyone in the following list.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong><em>&#8220;Technical&#8221; visual site assessments: Valuable, low cost, forensic method.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Posted September 4, 2012 &#8230; A good read on the\u00a0cost effectiveness\u00a0of a simple visual\u00a0assessment by an expert of the scene of a failure or accident.\u00a0\u00a0Have this done\u00a0before detailed investigation is begun &#8211;\u00a0<em>ideally when you assess the merit of the case and the worth of the file.\u00a0 It&#8217;ll save money<\/em>.\u00a0 The blog includes examples from my practice, some of which show the\u00a0value of this\u00a0inexpensive method before an advocate actually decides to take\u00a0a case.\u00a0 I know of one case that such an assessment would have saved the luckless client many 1,000s of dollars (I was\u00a0retained late in the case to peer review the forensic investigation).<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Steps in the forensic engineering investigative process with an Appendix on costs.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong> Posted July 15, 2013 &#8230;\u00a0A detailed outline of the tasks in forensic work with brief\u00a0comment on the difficulty estimating cost taken from a previous blog.\u00a0 A must-read for non-technical people who must\u00a0confer with experts.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Difficulty estimating the cost of forensic engineering investigation.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Posted July 23, 2013 &#8230; Another must-read.\u00a0 Examples taken from my files illustrate the difficulty.<\/li>\n<li><em><strong>(Fairly easy) Estimating the investigative cost of a catastrophic engineering failure.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em> Posted August 13, 2013 &#8230; The pictures of this failure are amazing!\u00a0 Also\u00a0my concluding remark considering the magnitude of the failure shown in the pictures:<em> &#8220;So, estimating the cost of investigating the cause of a catastrophic failure is not always difficult.\u00a0 And, if you don&#8217;t mind, estimating the cost of investigating a simple failure is not always easy.&#8221;\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em><strong>Managing the cost of civil litigation.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em> Posted September 19, 2013\u00a0&#8230;\u00a0Outlines a detailed, stepped process for managing costs.\u00a0 Based on\u00a0principles from the well-developed field of project management.\u00a0 The process is characterized by frequent updates on cost-to-date and estimated cost-to-complete, for both legal and expert involvement in\u00a0a case.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>How to manage the cost of civil litigation.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Posted October 4, 2013 &#8230; A good read with\u00a0lots of ideas.\u00a0 An update of a previous blog\u00a0that\u00a0expanded the\u00a0section, &#8220;Why must cost be managed?&#8221;\u00a0\u00a0Contains a\u00a0list of\u00a0helpful references.<\/li>\n<li><em><strong>Reducing the cost of forensic investigation &#8211; it&#8217;s being done now by default not by plan.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em> Posted September 14, 2014.\u00a0 You may see your actions\u00a0reflected in this blog.\u00a0 An insightful read.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Why the difficulty estimating the cost of forensic engineering investigation?\u00a0<\/em><\/strong> Posted September 1, 2013 &#8230;\u00a0A must read.\u00a0\u00a0A good, detailed review of what engineering experts are up against when attempting to estimate the cost of the different tasks in a forensic engineering investigation.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>&#8220;If you measure it you can manage it&#8221; &#8211; and do thorough forensic engineering and cost effective civil litigation.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong> Posted June 18, 2015 &#8230; A real good, short read and helpful in cost management.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>&#8220;Expensive&#8221; experts are not so expensive compared to the cost of key technical issues going undetected.\u00a0<\/em> <\/strong>Posted December 8, 2015 &#8230; Contains good advice from noted and respected authorities in the legal profession.\u00a0 Also lessons learned from a few cases I&#8217;m familiar with.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Peer review costs can be controlled.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Posted January 22, 2016 &#8230; A good read on managing the cost of civil litigation costs by how\u00a0you retain an expert.\u00a0 See\u00a0at least 10 ways if you count retaining an expert at the case merit-assessment stage or as a testifying expert.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Cost control in civil litigation.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong> Posted September 8, 2016 &#8230; Some blunt comment on managing costs in\u00a0a suggestion to APTLA (the Atlantic Provinces Trial Lawyers&#8217; Association) to hold a conference or include a session on managing the costs of civil litigation involving experts)<\/li>\n<li><em><strong>Keynote speaker on cost control in civil litigation.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em> Posted September 22, 2016 &#8230; A follow up suggestion to APTLA\u00a0on\u00a0how to organize\u00a0a conference on cost management\u00a0of civil litigation involving experts that would include keynote speakers from\u00a0both the legal and expert communities.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Managing the cost of civil litigation when experts are involved.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Posted March 19, 2017 &#8230; Explains a low cost method of doing this &#8211;\u00a0basically, counsel and expert meeting\u00a0very early in the case\u00a0and talking about the technical issues.\u00a0 If possible, investigating one or two technical issues certainly results in less expensive\u00a0civil litigation than investigating several.\u00a0 Examples from my files\u00a0of cases that went well, and one case &#8211; not so much.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Conference call on a &#8220;drone flight&#8221; reduces the cost of civil litigation.<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong> Posted May 18, 2017. (Also see a blog posted March 31, 2017) &#8230; I&#8217;m getting a lot of cost effective evidence\u00a0with unusual investigative techniques.\u00a0 For example, with\u00a0aerial video\u00a0and photography from a low flying drone.\u00a0 Also learning the source of water\u00a0at a\u00a0slip and\u00a0fall accident site by taking a cold shower at the site.\u00a0 And measuring the skid resistance of\u00a0a floor with a piece of pig&#8217;s belly.\u00a0 Advocates and experts must be receptive to non-textbook tricks in the interest of managing the cost of civil litigation.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>&#8220;A rose by any other name&#8230;&#8221;; Primers for lawyers.<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong> Posted December 19. 2016 &#8230; An insightful blog inspired by a lawyer&#8217;s comment at an APTLA conference last November.\u00a0(Ref. 2)\u00a0 He was right on the money.\u00a0 A lawyer must prepare before going into court and an expert must investigate before giving an opinion &#8211; and this can be expensive.\u00a0 A good\u00a0blog on\u00a0a client&#8217;s need to know.<\/li>\n<li><em><strong>An expert&#8217;s fees and forensic engineering.<\/strong>\u00a0 <\/em>Posted July 5, 2016 &#8230; An indication of the average hourly billing rates for professional engineers in the Atlantic provinces for different levels of experience and responsibility.\u00a0 Rates not too much different than lawyer&#8217;s fees.\u00a0 Knowing these helps in managing the cost of civil litigation.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>\u00a0References<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The\u00a0Advocates Society, Toronto, Ontario,\u00a0<em>Principles governing advocates communicating with testifying experts, June, 2014.\u00a0 <\/em>Posted June 11, 2015<\/li>\n<li>Pizzo, Ron, Pink Larkin, and his comment <em>&#8220;&#8230;lot of preparation beforehand &#8211; a lawyer just doesn&#8217;t walk into court&#8221;.\u00a0<\/em> APTLA conference, <em>It&#8217;s all wrongful: Death, Dismissal, Conviction &amp; More,<\/em> Halifax, November 4, 2016<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The following blogs &#8211; and good reference material in some &#8211;\u00a0will help you manage the cost of civil litigation involving experts.\u00a0 Careful management is necessary because most cases are small or medium sized not big &#8211;\u00a0&#8220;less affluent, not affluent&#8221; to\u00a0reflect &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/2017\/08\/31\/a-bundle-of-blogs-how-to-manage-the-cost-of-civil-litigation-involving-experts\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5785"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5785"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5823,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5785\/revisions\/5823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}