Practice Development for Expert Witnesses
Beryl Vaughan, Consultant
9 Free and Easy Things to Do Now
Tips
Retool Your Professional or Academic CV
Tips to adapt your CV for attorney readers.
Email Signature Block
Your email signature to maximize how attorneys view you, interact with you and call you.
Freebies
Marketing tools with a big punch and minimal time investment.
Domain Names: Their role in email addresses and website planning.
A domain name may be your business email address, even if you don’t have a website at a low cost.
Logo or No Logo
Your name is your identifying feature. Learn when to use a logo and how to get one free.
Why a Pied Paper? Because it shows what happens when a logo is confusing.
CV: Adapt What You Have
The CV for Forensic Practice
Tips to adapt your CV for attorney readers. No time? CV Lite.
Polish Your CV.
Cannibalize What You Have
It’s common for doctors to tell me they have an old CV or one to get into Fellowship, or a clinical position, but nothing they’d send an attorney.
Attorneys will always ask.
Attorneys will always ask for your CV before retaining you. It becomes a tool that can seal that deal.
Academic or Job-Seeking CV. Attorneys care more about your credentials and experience than your peer-reviewed research.
1. Use letterhead.
This is a mistake many experts make. In any field, including expert witness practice, the professional standard is all documents go on letterhead. This is also another chance to provide the attorney with your contact info. Extra points for a “designed” layout with columns or borders.
2. Don’t bury the lead. Start with Credentials.
Licensing, which State(s), License # and date granted.
Board-Certifications, Granting Body, Date Granted.
Why?
The attorney owes a duty of due diligence to their client, including verifying you are a licensed physician and have credentials that are relevant to their case.
Make it easy for them to do so.
2. CV Chronology is Most Recent and Works Backwards
The goal is to emphasize your current and most relevant work.
3. Education
- Newly Board-Certified and attended well-regarded schools? Ok to include Education above or just below experience.
- Mid-Career? (15 years-ish.) Education does not have to be first even if chronologically it seems to fit.
- Graduated more than 3 decades ago? Education belongs far down on the page–it is no longer as relevant.
4. Include faculty appointments
5. Publications List
Publications can dominate a CV and outshine credentials and experience. Limit publications to no more than 2 pages. If it’s longer, use your Heading: “Partial List of Publications.” End with “Please contact me for a complete list of publications.”
Note: Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 26(a)(2)(B)(iv) Requires disclosure of all publications in the last 10 years and testimony given in the last 4 years. If this overwhelms your page count, consider a separate CV or attachment to your CV for Federal cases.
6. Short and Sweet.
5-8 pages is adequate. My opinion is 20 pages is excessive if you don’t want to put the attorney to sleep. Lengthy CVs often reflect extensive publications and research. A solution is to offer list only what has occurred in the last 5-10 years and offer a “complete list of publications on request.”
You must stand behind your CV.
Ultimate decisions about content, presentation, and layout is yours alone.
When you become a Disclosed Expert Witness, your CV is sent to opposing counsel.
That’s Networking!
Watermark your CV “Unretained Expert.”
This prevents attorneys from disclosing you as an expert witness without retaining you.
Once they’ve signed your retention contract and sent you the retainer, they get a copy without the watermark.
Online CV
A Website About Page
The “About” page on your website is a CV. Therefore it must be consistent your CV. This is important because Inconsistencies can be brought up in court and may be characterized as intentionally misleading.
When you update your CV, update your website. Also update CV content in a directory or panel listing service where you appear.
All Information Can be Confirmed Online. Do Your Own Due Diligence as Proofreading
Your credentials can be confirmed publicly, including through Board and Licensing bodies, the NPPES, on institutional sites, in directory listings and more.
If the public record is inaccurate, get it corrected and updated as needed. E.g. the NPPES database should reflect specialist taxonomies. Boards and licensing bodies will explain how to update information.
Statements on your CV must be consistent with the public record.
CV Cheat Sheet
Adapting Your CV From Academic to Private Practice
- Use business letterhead.
- Start with Licensure and Board-Certification, include license numbers and grant-dates so attorneys can vet you.
- Highlight medicolegal experience, as well as clinical experience.
- Include a line item for your private forensic practice name.
- Optional Attachments: Include a list of exemplar cases in which you have served as a disclosed expert or rendered a forensic opinion, list lengthy publications, presentations and research that, especially if they are more than 10 years old.
- Education (perhaps) appears below experience and accomplishments, unless you graduated recently or from an esteemed school, and/or they are your primary bragging points.
- Include academic experience and faculty appointments, identify curriculum if relevant to forensic work.
- Research and Publications: Emphasize the title of forensic-relevant topics, e.g., by bold or italicized font.
- Presentations. Include in any setting, including to other academics, or as community service. Presentation expertise = ability to communicate on the stand.
- Professional organization memberships. Keep it brief.
- Honors, Awards. Mention these sparingly–only if an attorney is likely to recognize the honor.
Email Signature Block: One and Done
Gmail, Outlook, and most email services allow you to create a standard signature block.
A signature block is a quick and dirty business card.
Elements of a Signature Block
1. Name, phone, email, website — of course.
Optional, but useful: a clearly designated “Direct Dial” #. It tells the attorney you are accessible and they can expect a faster turnaround than a front desk message-taker. Responding to attorneys quickly will always advance your retention.
2. To maintain privacy about your personal cell #, consider a service like Google Voice that provides a phone# that then forwards calls to your *real* DD #.
3. Board-Certification, titles, area of expertise, and practice name.
4. Options: hospital or faculty affiliations.
Sample Confidentiality Notice
Attorneys routinely use a confidentiality disclaimer in their emails as do HIPAA-Compliant physicians. It can communicate greater professionalism and set boundaries than a signature alone.
Disclaimer: This is not legal advice from an attorney. There may be legal consequences to the wording of a notice which you should discuss with an attorney.
Logo or No Logo?
Where will you use a logo? Website? Business Cards? Online platforms?
1. A logo is a graphic that serves to identify your practice. Assuming we are discussing a logo for a forensic practice:
Solo
If you are solo, your practice= you. Skip a logo. Be sure to have a photo on your site, however. It serves a similar purpose: to associate your practice with a person.
Group Practice
If you are a group practice, a logo makes more sense than photos alone. You can’t have a business card with 10 faces on it. A logo, therefore, is a substitute for many services and many people.
Functionally, What is a logo?
1. Logos are used for “branding”–to build a visual bridge between your client and your practice. We know a logo is a graphic. But its function is to create an identity that is visual and immediate. NOTE: Healthcare logos for a forensic practice create confusion.
PRO TIP
Logos do become dated. Every 5-10 years, consider an adaptation of your logo–but keep thematic cues: colors, shapes.
In recent years, Instagram, Slack, YouTube and Starbucks all updated their logos. The images were referential to earlier logos but designers changed the style and in some cases colors.
If you have a logo for your clinical practice
One simple line image can rarely address a nuanced multi-service practice. Keep a boundary, e.g., telemedicine treatment vs. uniquely forensic testimony. Again, it’s good to have thematic consistencies for both your practices.
A healthcare logo is confusing if your practice is more than treatment.
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This logo immediately communicates medical-legal work. It does not serve healthcare. If you used it for a clinical practice, the gavel would confuse patients. |
A logo is a statement about the practice AT A GLANCE.
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This logo does not communicate medical-legal work or healthcare. I find it dated. Do you? |
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What does this mean? It is offered by one graphic service as a “healthcare logo.” I guess if we eat more green leafy veggies? |
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Here’s a twist that makes more sense: A few changes give a different message. The boxes suggest a group practice. The magnifying glass is self-explanatory. |
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Why 3 “people?” What are they doing? I do not understand. |
Is it better to have a logo graphic, or a photo of myself?
Attorneys want to know what you look like. For that reason, a photo is always necessary in marketing. A graphic is not a substitute for a portrait.
You don’t have to be gorgeous, but it is human to want to connect with a face- visually.
A logo can be distracting and frustrating if the attorney seeks a face and finds a graphic that makes no sense.
Logos for group practices run this risk as well.
A frustration-response is the opposite of positive communication.
Easy to See You. It’s Free.
Google Business
Google Business is that BIG box you see on the right of your monitor when you type in someone’s (precise) name or (precise) business name.
It contains photos, location, contact info. An underused feature is a place to post a short comment or lead to an article at a different url. Try it: type into Google “forensicexpertpro” and you’ll see what I mean.
Social Media
Per the Social Media section on this page, join free LinkedIn and start building “connections.” Join LinkedIn “Groups”–especially those for attorneys. Post at least once a week and stay conservative. Learn about posting online. Consider posts that link articles from your website.
Free Data
With the power of free data, you can improve your client’s experience in finding you.
- Google Analytics is a free account that tells you how users are finding your site and what pages interest them. The data is external: the journey to your site, not the behavior once there. Is your directory listing helping your website? What terms were used to find you?* Did they use a desktop or phone to do so? User info is anonymous–no personal information is acquired and you can reassure visitors to your website that their Privacy is intact. This isn’t Cambridge Analytics.
- To start, open a Google Analytics account (click above), add the indicated code to your site, verify it and you can now access all that useful data.
Pick up the phone to call, or email, prior clients.
A call or email to an existing client reestablishes your relationship and puts you back on your client’s radar. It’s free and smart.
- Be brief.
- Be friendly. Use a first name if you’re on a first name basis.
- Reference the case. You might even reminisce a tiny bit.
- (Be sure your email signature block hit all the marks in your Supercharged E-Mail Signature.)
It’s definitely horse-and-buggy stuff and it works. Personal contact is always better than impersonal contact. Just like in real life.
Posting, Reposting, Reacting
Post, Repost, Respond, React.
Be careful with endorsements (thumbs up or clapping hands).
Every time you post on LinkedIn, one of your potential attorney-clients might read it. It can cause them to take a second look at your profile and, by extension, website and email. This is where you get a conversion from post to potential case.
Post regularly, once or twice a week, for maximum effect–but stay in your lane and leave opinions out of it. Easy posts: news articles, relevant peer-reviewed research, announce affiliations or accomplishments, link to an article from your website.
Use hashtags. if applicable #litigation, #law, #criminal, #medicalmalpracatice, #healthcarelaw, #personalinjury #expertwitness. The reason is if the attorney is following a hashtag then your post is more likely to appear on their feed. Easy.
Acknowledge those who respond to your posts. If you receive comments to your post, always click on the reaction icon for their post. This will also place your name in that person’s notifications alert and get you more visibility.
Reacting: One Click
“Reactions” trigger an alert.
You click on an icon, respond to someone’s post, repost, or comment and a “notification” alert appears to the post-er with a red dot.
People like knowing if their post is successful. Seeing your name may build name recognition, and inspire curiosity.
Promoting curiosity is a marketing tool.
The Best Time to Post is 10:30 a.m. or 3:30 p.m.
What is the best time of day to post?
When people need a break or are already taking a break:
Tuesday-Friday
10:15 – 10:45 am
12:15 – 12:45 pm
3:15 pm
Why? Because people scroll LinkedIn when their circadian rhythm and workday flow tell them they need a break.
Timesaver: Copy and paste the post in more than one group.
Schedule the Post to Release Later
Timesaver
Write several posts at once and schedule them to be released later throughout the week.
Should you react with an emoji?
Yes. LinkedIn’s emojis are a quick click way to acknowledge or respond to a post.
Do so thoughtfully. But do so (most of the time.)
An endorsement requires special thought. This could be the thumbs up or clapping hands. If you can’t prove the post is accurate, if you can’t defend it on the stand and/or your reaction is a personal opinion, then stick to a lightbulb (interesting but not endorsed.)
Benefits of an emoji response are significant–you trigger that red dot notification alert described above.
To Logo or Not to Logo
Do you need a logo?
Solo Medicolegal Specialists
If you’re solo, my recommendation is no. Forget the logo.
Your photo is a better alternative on your website, LinkedIn, directory listings, etc. A photo establishes the kind of practice recognition that is usually associated with a logo. (Caveat: never use a photo on a business card or letterhead.)
If you have a clinical practice logo, consider a logo that is referential but distinct. Using my examples of the grid and leaf, they might be effective for a clinical practice (assuming you replace the leaf with something healthcare related) while the dark green and magnifying glass image speak to the medicolegal practice.
Group Practices
If you’re a group practice, photos are important on your website but you can have a bunch of faces serve as a logo.
In a group practice, your logo might get confused with the big medicolegal placement firms–which is not the service you provide.
Thoughts:
Logo company offered this one. Why 3? What does it Mean? Are we Dancing? I'm so confused.
Touted as a "healthcare logo" by large logo company, I have to wonder if I need a greenhouse to be health.
I popped that logo into graphics software for a better medicolegal application.
The_Workaround_to_a_Long_Domain_Name.com
Catchy and Memorable Domains
We all want a domain name that’s easy to remember, on-point and easy to type. Sadly most are no longer available, and “catchy” may not even be a good choice. Also, your area of expertise may be long and difficult to spell, ruling out something like “anesthesiaexpertwitness.”
AI and Domain Names
In 2023 Google launched its AI initiative “AI Overview.” It is 100% dedicated to providing questions to queries in the search OR implied queries.
You might choose a domain name that provides an answer to a question. E.g. User asks “how do you prove emotionaldistress.com” and the site that answers it best with the greatest SEO will then appear. (I own it so it’s just an example). You can do this.
In theory, for example, “backdoctor.com” might seem like it would perform better than “orthopedicexpertwitness.com.” I disagree. It would. But you may field many calls about a clinical practice and not expert witness work.
The cost of a domain name.
Respected domain registrars charge $17-$24 to register a domain name. A Domain Ownership Privacy service creates a firewall between your address and the public, about another $30/year.
Should you buy from a domain name reseller?
The value of a good url was established in the early 1990s. Since then, Domain-Name Bulk Buyers / Resellers have been busy snatching up anything with a common proper noun.
Great 4-letter noun domain names go for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Md.com is gone.
Backexpertwitness.com might be available. So might orthopedicmedicolegalconstuling. You need something in between. You may well find the url that speaks to you is not available, but someone is selling it.
Case in Point
Medicolegal.com appears to be for sale. To find out the cost, you have to follow a series of links which may not be stable or safe. The reseller owns the domain so you likely won’t have a choice of brokers.
When I started out, forensic medical-centric domains were evaporating before my eyes, so I began registering names whenever I found one. I knew my clients would eventually be out of good options. Occasionally, I will sell a domain name I registered, but only to current clients and only if it is practice-relevant.
The Intent of the Domain Name vs. Results
Google’s SERP (Search Engine Results Page) placement is tied to relevance and backend coding and promotion or “SEO.”
There are 2 features: 1. expenditure on aggressive SEO methods, and 2. the site addresses what the name implies with credibility, meaning and no-nonsense definitive answers. Generative AI has pushed all of these results lower on the page, beginning with multiple companies/directories/referral services who have a significantly higherl budget than you. Your page might then appear on page 2 to 20 where it is unlikely to get traction.
Even if your domain name is perfect, your site must provide valuable content about your field to make the domain effective. This isn’t complex, but it is necessary.
I don’t have a website, why buy a domain name at all?
1. Because you might need it in the future, and domain names sell out.
2. The domain name can provide a professional email address even if you don’t have a website.
This is what it looks like on mine go@forensicexpertpro.com. I might not have a website there, but at least I have an email that says something about my practice.
Email is [your name]@[your domain.com]. For that email, you have to own the domain name. Note that any email @gmail.com or @yahoo.com are hallmarks of the amateur.
.com
When searching for an available domain, filter by the extension .com. It is the business standard and gets the best SEO for a business.
Unlike a .org, you are not a non-profit.
Note .net and .info also fall behind .com in Google results.
Don’t use your name as your url.
Some forensic professionals use their own name like Drjoesjameschmoemd.com.
I don’t recommend this unless your name is widely known. Attorneys looking for someone like you, don’t yet know your name.
That won’t always be true. But our focus is providing new clients an open door to your practice. Repeat customers will appreciate a shorter domain alias that is easy to remember.
Purchase a second domain name that points to your primary website.
You can also purchase a short, but not intuitive, domain that redirects folks to your longer, more relevant website. It gives your existing attorney clients something easy to use after they know what you do.
Case in Point. My client, Dr. Adhia, has the domain www.forensicpsychiatrynow.com. To make it easier for his attorney clients, he registered his initials as well www.sgamd.com. When Dr. Adhia added another doctor to his practice, he registered www.aamedlegal.com. All take you to the same destination site but once the attorney knows the doctor, the shorter name is easier to remember and use
Act quickly.
It takes 1-2 years to get traction for your website on, say page 3 or even further, from page 1 and that is after you start being indexed by Google. Indexing means “Google is looking over billions of sites and will now find your site” vs. the unindexed site which means “Google doesn’t see your site.” Yahoo.com, Bing.com and Firefox’ Duckduckgo.com are influenced by Google’s ranking results.
The sooner you commit to the url and begin this process, the sooner you will reap the benefits.
Changing mid-stream resets the clock. If you buy a domain, set up a website then later change your url and move the website, it is like starting over and losing your place in line for Google indexing. In fact, Google cares how long your url has been in play. The want to promote sites that have been around awhile.
More reading includes these articles that are not endorsed by me, but still interesting:
URL Domain Name Length: Data-Based Pros and Cons From Digital Marketing Guru Neil Patel
Logos
Why the Pied Piper? Because it demonstrates a terrible logo. Why? It is confusing and irrelevant to a med-legal practice, just like next one.
What does this logo mean? Why 3? Are we dancing? Huh?
A frequent question.
You probably don’t need a logo if you’re solo.
Logos are common in clinical practice, because it must communicate a kind of medicine to many types of patients and the many doctors who may also be in your practice.
In medicolegal work, however, your practice is a person–you. There’s no harm in having a logo IF it reflects your specialization and law.
If you’re weighing your budget between getting a pro photo vs. hiring a graphic designer to make a logo: get the photo. Attorneys need to see you. Logos, however, are easily overlooked.
Group Practice. You might need a logo if your medical-legal practice reflects multiple people.
This is when you should consider minimalistic images and/or unexpected images.
There are big companies in the medicolegal space that are gateways to a database of people. Logos are their “brand.” You have a brand too, but it is you and your associates.
If you’re running a group practice, give a lot of thought to your logo so you don’t confuse lawyers about who they are calling.
Conceptually and visually, Law and Medicine intersect nicely in this logo.
I would make aesthetic changes to the colors, but that’s subjective. I do have a personal dislike for the overuse of a gavel as a default for “law,” or a cross as a default for “medicine.” Still, it does the trick.
The referential logos in a split practice.
If you have a logo for your clinical practice, and want one for your forensic practice, then consider making them referential but not identical. Case in point:
A logomaker service advises this is a "healthcare logo." That's why logomaker sites are dangerous. They think you are a plant.
This logo makes more sense for a medicolegal practice.
It also demonstrates how a logo for one business might be referential but not identical to the logo for another business.
How did the second logo stylistically match the first so well?
To create the second logo, I used Adobe Photoshop. The logo itself was licensed through Adobe Stock Photos, ensuring no copyright infringements and giving me full authority to change the image any way I want to.
I added new, more conservative, colors to the boxes, and the magnifying glass and person. It took about an hour.
There are now 2 logos, one for the forensic practice and one for the healthcare practice.
They create a referential and consistent “branding” for the doctor.
Case Management Shortcuts
Streamlining case management makes it easier to track and requires less of your time which equals money.
Low Tech: Labels on Case Files
Many experts use hard paper case files and document binders.
It can be an easy way to put your finger on information, or organize data points when writing a report.
If you work like this, consider an all-in-one tool like this case label, including, of course, what matters to you.
Some ideas:
- Contact people at the firm including paralegals and legal secretaries
- Case citation
- Source of referral to you (invaluable)
- What you are charging
- Computer filepath for client, and for documents
Adobe Acrobat Pro Tools to Organize Records
If attorneys send you electronic records, my favorite tool is opening them in Adobe Acrobat. The Pro version costs about $10/month and provides excellent management tools.
My favorites include:
- Bates stamping
- Watermarking (good for retainer contracts,)
- Making notes to yourself,
- Adding a footer or header, like “John Jones Orthopedic Records 2001-2002.”
- Adding a footer like “Records from Attorney Smith in Re Jones v. Jones”
Stay on Top of The Same Deadlines That Attorneys Track
Most experts keep track of their own deadlines: to prepare a report or attend a deposition.
In addition…
Use your calendar to track deadlines that affect you indirectly.
For example, the expert disclosure deadline is helpful so you know when to ask the attorney about experts disclosed by either side.
It’s also a reminder to stay on cases that have gone silent. Following-up with attorneys keeps you in the loop: has a case settled? Is trial moving ahead? This makes you better prepared but it also keeps your name in front of the attorney–reminders are a useful marketing tool.
Software and E-Tools
Technology takes the heavy lifting off your brain. These tools help with the boring part of your job, like wading through electronic records.
I’ve already spoken about Acrobat Pro and free calendars like Google or Outlook.
Outlook allows me to create folders to contain emails that are easy to find: by case, by topic, by chronology. It makes billing much easier at month-end.
Not Free, But Useful
Quickbooks is an excellent billing and finance software for small practices. There is a learning curve, I won’t lie.
But once I mastered it I am able to quickly generate
- Profit & Loss statements
- Collections reports
- Create invoice templates suited to the type of client
- Pay my bills characterizing expenses that align with my Schedule C.
- I tailor expenses for my business.
- Lastly, reconciling my business credit card, expenses on other credit cards like business travel, checking accounts and retainer account activity is easy.
Indispensable Software Suites
Adobe Creative Cloud Suite. The Suite provides savings by bundling more than 30 programs for about $50/month (or $30 if you negotiate.) I have been using Photoshop as an amateur photographer for over 20 years. It has been a lifesaver for website design where images are so crucial. Further you can resize images for LinkedIn posts (1200px x 628 px), Google posts, and clients’ articles. Also included is video editing software, 3D design and, especially useful:
Adobe Illustrator an editor for vectors (scalable line drawings for a graphic look.) These are useful in website design and as a low-key illustration with a publication. This is a vector
The Suite also includes Acrobat Pro, which is also available for $10/month as a standalone program. Acrobat Pro is the best document management program and provides secure and watermarked documents.
Cheap Data
- If you have a website, data is how you know what is working. Google Analytics is free. Web-Stat Premium is $9.50/month and picks up where Google Analytics stops.
- Web-Stat follows the user’s journey inside your site. What part of the country is that visitor from — the one that spent 7 minutes to read your About page? Were they a first time visitor or a repeat visitor? I value it because I can ask a client “did you get a call yesterday from North Carolina?” If the answer is yes, then I know what pages on the site are producing calls and incorporate that into the marketing strategy.
Summary
There are tools out there that you can tap, with little or no cost, which will help you build your case base and collect your fees for a better bottom-line.
Most experts are solo practitioners or small group practices. Resources can be tight. The more you can do yourself, the less expensive it will be.
At some point, you will have enough cases to outsource these tasks.
Your time will be so valuable you can afford to do the hand-off.
In the meantime, I hope you try out the tools I have found effective for experts at all stages of practice with all volume of cases.
Image includes Kathleen Hughes, starring in “It Came From Outer Space,” 1953.
Social Media is Easy. There's Only One.
LinkedIn Is The Only Suitable Social Media Platform. It Brings in Cases.
LinkedIn is a platform specifically designed for business people to network (“B2B”) and share mutually interesting information. Attorneys are the other half of your B2B. When you post specialist information to target attorneys it is far more valuable and interesting to them than a cold call or cold email.
Skip: Social media to connect to friends, family or be fun (unless you already belong to attorney groups) No Facebook Instagram, X, Bluesky or TikTok. There is nothing inherently wrong with these platforms, they just don’t produce cases and waste your time.
The Free, Easy Part
You can do everything on LinkedIn yourself and it’s free. (A Premium account is $59.99/mo for services outside the scope of this article.)
Design Your Profile
Create or update your LinkedIn Profile, post a professional photo and a suitable descriptive profile. Create a wide banner at the top of your profile that communicates med-legal skills.
Headers are 1584 x 396 pixels, your profile portrait is optimally 400px square and a post image is 1200×628.
I use Adobe Photoshop for these purposes. I can craft a background image, add text, size, and crop as needed. MSWord has similar functionality if you’re familiar with its design features.
Build “Connections”
How
Connection Tip: Every so often check your “connection requests sent” and if you get no response after a month, withdraw the request. Unaccepted requests negatively impact the visibility of your posts.
Join Attorney Groups
Your posts there, using hashtags (see below) get in front of focused audiences.
and network in the