Dr. Pastor interviewed on Engaging Experts Podcast

Round Table Group Interview with Noah Bolmer on Expert Witness work

Please check out the great conversation dealing with Security & Legal expert witness work. Noah posed excellent questions. The interview was fast moving and informative. https://www.roundtablegroup.com/engaging-experts/engaging-with-security-and-legal-expert-dr-james-pastor/

Some highlights from the podcast:

• “As a new expert, it’s impressive to have somebody ask you for your opinion and be willing to pay you for it. You could go down that path where you start to say, “I want to help. I want to help.” But you can’t help too quickly, and you have got to be careful how you frame it.”
  

• “What I’ve seen is most people are ill-prepared for the litigation process. You may be the top expert in your area, but unless you understand the litigation process, the mindset of attorneys, and unless you understand where those lines are drawn, you are at a distinct disadvantage…”
  

• “…If you understand the game, the parameters you should have as an expert, the process of litigating, how the record is set, and how to answer questions, [that’s] important to your value as an expert, but they have little to do with your front ability and merit as a professional in the industry that you’re working out of…”
  

• “Rule number one is don’t work without a retainer. If you don’t have a retainer along with a check, you are you are extending yourself. You’re exposing yourself to the credibility and the character of the attorney, but even worse, they’re showing you that they don’t respect you…” 
  

• “There’s a respect element that comes into form on the front end of the relationship. If they are willing to engage you and pay you upfront, they are saying we value your opinion so much that we’re going to go out on a limb and hire you…”
  

•  “Understanding human nature says your perceived value is usually more than your actual value. On the front end of a relationship, if they perceive you to have value, they will demonstrate it by signing a retainer and paying you a check. That is the crucial step towards what I would call a professional relationship…”
  

• “The biggest factor going [on] is AI. My gut says, and I don’t know this definitively, AI will vet your opinions in ways that attorneys can’t…AI can cut through that and get to some pointed examples or pointed conclusions as to what you would say and when you said it. The ability to capture information through AI about what you did in the past is going to change the expert witnessing business…”
  

• “… credibility is everything. If you are comfortable in your own mind that you’re doing and saying the things that you believe, there’s something out there in the background that AI quote unquote can find, well, you shouldn’t worry about it because you that’s not who you are…”
  

• “I guess the best thing I can say, and this sounds- it’s more soft than it is hard and that is, care about your role. Care about doing justice? Care about the truth…”
  

• “… lawyers are going to want to have somebody that is solid. That isn’t going to be impeachable. That isn’t going to blow with the wind. And so thus stay grounded. Stay focused on who you are and what you believe. And you know, if there are facts in the case, don’t be afraid to concede on certain things…”