Practice Development for Medical Expert Witnesses
Beryl Vaughan, Consultant
Nationwide

Email go@forensicexpertpro.com or Call (415) 302-9589

Marketing Medicolegal Work During a Slowdown

By Beryl Vaughan

Your sparkly marketing plan is in place.

You get a rush of new case calls.

6 months or a year passes and the rush becomes a trickle and anxiety kicks in. This is when I tend to hear from clients. Silent phones can rattle even the most confident doctor.

In a perfect world, an enthusiastic response would be to beef up your marketing strategy and double down.

However, if the trickle keeps shrinking, you might give up on your goals and resign yourself. Frankly, a slowdown in work can be demoralizing. Becoming demoralized, in my experience, leads to inaction.

A Second Wind With These Tools

In Real Life

Tap Past Attorney-Clients For New Cases

The lowest-hanging fruit in any profession is repeat business. These tools will reboot relationships you have already.

Break Typecasting

Lawyers seek experts for distinctly different types of cases. Attorneys you worked with in the past may recall your expertise and put you in the box for only those types of cases.

Sample: you testified about medical damages in a PI motor vehicle accident; now the attorney has a malpractice case about standard of care in your medical specialization. You may be qualified for both topics but that may not be what first comes to mind for the attorney. The only way they can know is if you tell them.

Here’s how you change that.

Stay in Touch

You left a good impression after a case, worked closely with an attorney or team, but that was the last time you spoke.

Attorneys tend to file away your name for the future and then forget. A few years pass. A new case comes up. “Who was that expert we used in a case once?” …”Hmmm, I can’t remember. I think there’s a CV floating around here somewhere..”

Remind them.

Let them know you’ve seasoned since then.

• Explain additional experience with testimony/IME/report-writing/disclosure as an Expert Witness.
• You’ve worked on very different types of cases.
• They need to realize you might be the right expert though a new case is different.

Rekindle the relationship in real life or digitally. 

Tap a new attorney population

• Presentations (whomever the attendees,  looks good on a CV and bios).
• If relevant, you can use this when you reach out in real life or an email. “I testified in a testamentary capacity case earlier this year. In a presentation to medical students, I discussed the nuances of a competency evaluation and my testimony in a probate case last year. Your name came to mind and I wanted to reach out.”)
• Join the local Bar to identify and contact Committee Chairs/Secretary/Events Coordinator in areas of law where you testify.
• Ask the Committee decision-makers if you can give a presentation.

Personal Communication

Pick Up the Phone

Call those clients you haven’t heard from lately. Make it personal, and mention your last case together. Leave it open-ended. See sample language below. (Digital outreach side note: you can do this in an email but you lose the “real life” benefits. Still, it’s better than not reaching out at all.) If you are shy about a phone call or fear it might seem pushy, consider something old-fashioned and more powerful.

Pick Up a Pen

A personalized note sent by snail mail. Snail mail is so rare these days, as are personal touches, that a handwritten note stands out. A personal connection will always be more powerful emotionally than a digital message. An emotional connection will always be more powerful than a digital connection one or two steps removed.

Freebies

Google MyBusiness and other freebies are discussed on this site at Freebies and other Marketing Ideas, Ready to Go

Create or Update Expert Directory Listings

Expert Directories can be an effective marketing tool. Most contain a short profile with a photo and a link to your website and phone number. Learn more about Expert Witness Directories, Free and Paid  E.g., Here’s my listing on HGexperts.

Ideas to Refresh a Directory Listing

• Update your profile.
• Add any new accomplishments, presentations, credentials, years of experience.
• Update your CV and load it to the directory.
• Adapt content from your website for use on the directory (most have this option.)
• Ask your contact at the directory for ideas to promote your listing or add writing that is professional and, once again, stays in your lane.

There is no charge to update an existing profile.