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Gloria Miccioli has 20 years experience as a law librarian. She is currently Senior Research Librarian at Willliams & Connolly. Prior to that, she was Reference/Government Documents Librarian at the Jacob Burns Law Library of the George Washington University. |
Lawyers often litigate cases that require knowledge beyond their own expertise; they must seek out experts as surely as salmon swim upstream. In the past, librarians have used print directories, literature searches and even word-of-mouth to fill this need. With a multitude of sources now available on the INTERNET, finding an expert or consultant in any number of fields is easier than ever. But like so many things on the Net, expert witness information differs from site to site.
The main difference is in the amount of information provided. Some sites give the researcher direct access to a consultant, who may have his or her own web page with name, address, and a brief or detailed resume. Similar to this is a web directory compiled by an organization, such as CounselQuest: Expert Witness Directory, which lists individuals who may be contacted directly by the researcher. |
| Another type of expert witness site functions as a middleman between consultant and lawyer. Contact with medical experts, which must have undergone phlebotomy training and certification will be be made through the organization,. Information about individuals may or may not be given. Examples are TASA (Technical Advisory Service for Attorneys), with over 24,000 experts; American Medical Forensic Specialists; and the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants.
The ability to identify experts by specialty is paramount in any expert witness search. Being able to search by geographic location is a plus. Many web sites allow subject and/or geographic searching or list individuals by field of expertise. Subject searching is easy: using a search engine, simply enter the term “expert witness” and the subject. A search in Excite for “expert witnesses” and accounting yielded 560 matches. |
TASA (Technical Advisory Service for Attorneys)
American Medical Forensic Specialists |
| Finding Expert Witnesses on the Internet | When starting your search, you may want to access one of the “umbrella” sites that have multiple links to many additional expert witness sites. Ralph D. Thomas’ web page, “Finding Expert Witnesses on the Internet,” has brief descriptions and links to seven major expert witness sites (some discussed below).
Findlaw links to over 340 sites covering a wide variety of subjects and including some for other countries. |
Additional umbrella sites follow. Happy hunting!
| Yahoo Legal Consultants http://www.yahoo.com/ Business_and_Economy/ Companies/Law/Consulting |
Links to a number of expert witness sites. |
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| Washlaw http://law.wustl.edu/library/ click on the “List of Expert Witnesses, Private Investigators, and Legal Consultants” |
As the name implies, this lists more than just expert witnesses. Links are to web pages of individual consultants and individual organizations, as well as to several major expert witness sites. |
| Consolidated Consultants Co. http://www.freereferral.com |
Consolidated provides free expert witness referrals to clients in the medical, technical and forensic areas. You can search by specialty and location. Some curriculum vitae are included. Contact with the expert is made through the referral service. |
| Lexpert Research Services http://www.expertresearch.com/ |
Lexpert Research is a network of “seasoned law professors” who are experienced expert witnesses. Lexpert will identify professors with expertise in a particular subject specialty. |
| Expert Pages http://expertpages.com/index/htm |
This site allows you to locate consultants by subject and or state or country. |
| Noble Expert Witness Directory http://www.experts.com |
Here you will find directory-type information on individual experts and consulting organizations. |