Description
Learn how to have a more financially successful expert witness practice. We provide a holistic look at practice development including marketing, sales, fee setting, collections, practice management, branding, and positioning. The focus is on simple and easily implementable techniques and strategies. Each attendee will create a written action plan and receive personalized feedback from SEAK.
You will learn how to:
- Make yourself more attractive to potential clients,
- Get new clients to come to you,
- Optimize your fee structure and minimize collection difficulties,
- Convert more case leads into paying clients,
- Position yourself in a well-placed niche,
- Data mine your old cases and case inquiries,
- Maximize repeat and word of mouth business,
- Cost effectively market your expert witness practice,
- Reduce non-billable time,
- Leverage yourself, and
- Make your expert witness practice more successful.
Registration/Tuition/Discount: Tuition is $1,395 on or before January 16, 2026; $1,495 January 17, 2026–February 18, 2026; and $1,595 after February 18, 2026. Your tuition includes a detailed conference manual. Group discounts are available for two or more persons registering together at the same time from the same employer. Discount prices depend on the size of the group. Our programs can also be brought onsite to your organization. Please call 508-457-1111. A special 50% discount is available on one new or renewal standard listing in the SEAK Expert Witness Directory placed by attendees during the seminar. This course is also available to stream on-demand, please click here.
Location/Hotel Accommodations: A limited block of rooms will be available at special rates at the site hotel, The Hilton San Diego Harbor Island (www.sandiegoairport.hilton.com) ($215/night). To make your reservations please call 1-800-445-8667 and mention that you are with SEAK, Inc or click here to book online. Rooms are limited and this rate expires February 18, 2026 so you are strongly encouraged to make your reservations as soon as possible. The Hilton San Diego Harbor Island is located near the airport and is situated on San Diego Bay. Guest rooms enjoy scenic views of the marina, Bay and downtown San Diego skyline. The Hilton San Diego Harbor Island features ideal proximity to the city’s most popular attractions including the Midway, Gaslamp Quarter, Sea World, and the Zoo. The hotel is within walking distance of fine dining options and features free airport shuttle, heated pool, free wifi, and a 24 hour gym.
Cancellations: Conference cancellations received in writing on or before February 18, 2026 will receive a full tuition refund. Conference cancellations received after February 18, 2026 will receive a full tuition credit.
Continuing Education Credits: There are no continuing education credits available for this program.
Faculty:
Nadine Nasser Donovan, Esq., is a former trial lawyer with extensive litigation experience. She is SEAK’s lead trainer and consultant, and has been on the SEAK Faculty since 2002, having trained thousands of experts via SEAK’s scheduled courses, customized on site expert witness training programs, and one-on-one consulting. Nadine is the co-author of the SEAK texts, How to Be an Effective Expert Witness at Deposition and Trial: The SEAK Guide to Testifying as an Expert Witness; How to Write an Expert Witness Report and How to Be a Successful Expert Witness: SEAK’s A-Z Guide to Expert Witnessing. She is licensed to practice law in New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. In addition, Nadine is a Legal Writing Instructor at Boston University School of Law. Nadine also serves as a Dispute Resolution Arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Nadine previously practiced litigation for 21 years. She spent 18 years in the defense of medical professionals in medical malpractice actions and before medical licensing boards. Nadine started off her legal career in New York City, first as a prosecutor in Queens, and then as counsel for the City of New York. Nadine received her J.D. cum laude from Boston College Law School. She graduated from Fordham University summa cum laude with a B.A. in French Literature. She can be contacted at 617-791-4282 or nadine@seak.com.
Kelly J. Wilbur, Esq., is an expert witness trainer and consultant for SEAK, Inc. She has assisted and taught numerous expert witnesses through SEAK seminars and one-on-one training. She was an insurance defense and commercial litigator for five years where she regularly worked with and against expert witnesses in wrongful death, personal injury, premises liability, construction defect and patent cases. Kelly received her J.D., cum laude, from the University of Massachusetts School of Law and graduated from St. Mary’s College of Maryland with a B.A. in Political Science. She may be contacted is 781-491-6802 or kelly@seak.com.
SCHEDULE
Day One (Thursday, March 12, 2026)
7:30–8:00 AM REGISTRATION & CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST
8:00–8:45 AM What Potential Clients are Looking For in Expert Witnesses
The faculty will detail what attorneys are looking for in expert witnesses. Questions & Answers
8:45–9:30 AM How to Recognize and Showcase What Makes You Most Attractive To Potential Clients
A first step in developing a business development strategy is creating and refining your “elevator speech,” —i.e. a concise summary of what potential clients would like about you. Building upon the previous segment, the faculty will explain a protocol for developing your ideal elevator speech and provide examples of effective elevator speeches. Questions & Answers
9:30–10:15 AM Finding Your Niche and Utilizing it to Increase Your Income
The potentially enormous benefits of finding a good niche will be explained and attendees will be provided with numerous successful examples as well as a protocol to identify/develop their ideal niche. Questions & Answers
10:15–10:30 AM BREAK AND NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY
10:30–11:15 AM Positioning Yourself in the Best Possible Light
The faculty will explain how to make yourself as attractive as possible to potential clients, including: how to project a positive and professional image (and the biggest mistakes experts make in this area), how case selection influences your image, which cases/law firms to seek out and which cases/law firms to avoid, how to demonstrate effective communication skills, how and when to fill in gaps and build your CV, why you should keep a low profile, and how to gain hands-on and relevant testifying experience. Questions & Answers
11:15 AM–12:00 PM How to Develop and Implement an Optimal Fee Structure
Faculty will provide suggestions and a “litmus” test attendees can use when reconsidering their fee and retainer structure. Emphasized will be techniques to make sure that you are not undercharging. Questions & Answers
12:00–1:45 PM LUNCH
12:45–1:30 PM How to Minimize Collection Difficulties and Write Offs
Simply put, every billed dollar that is not ultimately collected comes right off your bottom line. In this segment the faculty will provide practical advice for minimizing both collection losses and write-offs. Questions & Answers
1:30–2:15 PM How to Convert a Higher Percentage of Inquiries into Paid Assignments
Faculty will share with attendees: how to prepare for calls, what counsel are looking for, key “talking points” and numerous strategies and techniques for excelling during the call and its aftermath and converting the inquiry into a paid expert witness assignment. Questions & Answers
2:15–3:00 PM How Much Are Your New Clients Worth?
Attendees will learn how to consider the true worth of a new client. Such an understanding is critical in order to accurately assess the cost-effectiveness of the business development techniques discussed later in the course. Questions & Answers
3:00–3:15 PM BREAK AND NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY
3:15–4:00 PM Fundamentals of Expert Witness Business Development
Faculty will discuss and explain the art and science of business development for expert witness practices. Emphasis will be placed on cost-effective techniques that attendees can immediately use to increase their income without creating a backlash or fodder for cross examination. Questions & Answers
4:00–4:30 PM How to Track Your New Client Development
Faculty will explain techniques for tracking inquiries and cases. A model tracking form will be provided. Questions & Answers
4:30–5:00 PM How to Data Mine Your Old Cases and Inquiries to Make More Money
Maximizing your revenue requires a periodic analysis of your past cases and inquiries. The faculty will provide a protocol and form to conduct this analysis and will demonstrate through examples the highly valuable and actionable data that may well be within your easy reach. Questions & Answers
Day Two (Friday, March 13, 2026)
6:30–7:00 AM REGISTRATION & CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST
7:00–7:30 AM How to Identify and Reach the Attorneys Most Likely to Hire You
Faculty will discuss and demonstrate how you or your staff can easily locate the particular attorneys most likely to hire you for new expert witness assignments. Questions & Answers
7:30–8:30 AM How to Maximize Repeat and Word of Mouth Business
By far the most valuable and cost effective business development technique for expert witnesses is generating positive word of mouth. The faculty will provide dozens of suggestions and strategies for increasing repeat business with resulting increased income. Questions & Answers
8:30 AM–9:15 AM How to Develop a Comprehensive and Effective Internet Strategy
An effective internet strategy goes far beyond just putting up a web page. The authors will provide advice for developing a comprehensive and effective internet strategy involving URL selection, web site design, blogging, social media, search engine optimization, pay per click, inbound marketing, and calls to action. Questions & Answers
9:15–9:30 AM BREAK AND NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY
9:30–10:15 AM How and Where to Advertise: Evidence Based Best Practices
Research and evidence suggests that advertising and listing in expert directories can be remarkably cost effective and that, for most experts, there is little if any backlash from tasteful, factual ads. The faculty will specifically explain what should and should not be in expert witness advertisements, how specifically to maximize the effectiveness of your ads, and how and where to test advertising. Questions & Answers
10:15–10:45 AM Advanced Networking Techniques for Expert Witnesses
The faculty will explain and provide examples of six specific techniques for staying in front of clients and how specifically to implement each. The faculty will further describe methods for networking with one’s colleagues and how this can lead to case referrals. Also discussed will be which professional organizations to join, how to leverage your personal relationships, why you should serve as a mentor, which conferences you should attend, and how to use online networking through LinkedIn to boost your expert witness practice. Questions & Answers
10:45–11:00 AM BREAK AND NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY
11:00–11:30 AM How to use Public Speaking and Writing to Increase Your Revenue
Speaking and writing can be very good for your bottom line. The faculty will explain and demonstrate the subtle nuances that need to be navigated to get the most out of your speaking engagement. The faculty will explain where to talk, how to get invited, when the best time to talk is, and how to get invited back and will offer advice on risk management so that the expert’s presentation does not come back to haunt the expert. In regards to writing, the faculty will explain how to choose the correct topic to write on, the various types of writing that experts can do (white papers, articles, peer review articles, blogs, books, etc.), how to calculate the cost of writing, risk management considerations influencing your title, content, and where to publish—all with the aim of generating lucrative cases. Questions & Answers
11:30 AM–12:00 PM Direct Outreach
The faculty will explain how to draft an effective communications piece and who to target this piece to. Also included will be tips and advice on how to make your outreach cost-effective. Questions & Answers
12:00–12:45 PM LUNCH BREAK
12:45–1:15 PM Reducing Non-Billable Time
The less time you spend on non-billable time the more time you will have to bill, develop your practice, and increase your skills. The faculty will explain how to create large amounts of extra time by leveraging yourself through technology and proper staffing. Questions & Answers
1:15–1:45 PM Leveraging Your Name and Reputation to Earn More Money: Bringing on Additional Experts
Many expert witnesses work in firms or group settings. Expanding your practice to a group can allow you to greatly increase your billings and revenue as well as build residual sale value in your firm. The faculty will discuss the benefits and drawbacks of expanding beyond a one person firm and will give practical advice for doing so successfully. Questions & Answers
1:45–2:30 PM Personalized Action Plans
Attendees will work with faculty to pull together a personalized action plan to greatly expand the profitability of their practices. These plans will be discussed and critiqued. Questions & Answers
What past attendees have said:
“Outstanding work, thank you so much. Your passion, expertise, and decency all shine through. Very helpful to me and all the students to make us better experts.”
“Very informative, and gave practical advice to further my expert witness endeavors.”
“The resource manual, faculty, and participation of attendees [was useful/interesting].”
“Exceeded my expectations. Comfortable class size with engaged participants.”
“Hard hitting and targeted.”
“Well done with actual stories of the good/bad.”
“Most useful to me was the notion of developing an ‘elevator speech.’ It called for an introspective focus on what the marketable skills of the expert witness is.”
“Great job! Your infusion of humor and examples were right on target.”
“Highly instructive.”
“I very much appreciate the approach, the professionalism, the frankness, and the organization. [Jim and Kelly] provided me with much needed direction.”
“Not only was the instruction useful, even to someone with as much experience as I have had as an expert witness, but the cross-pollination of ideas from the other participants was also quite valuable.”
“It was great to drill down on the details of how to improve our business.”
“A well prepared and presented course that truly addressed all the aspects of creating healthy growth in an expert witnessing practice.”
“Thanks again so much for the course! Definitely gave me a number of great ideas to make my expert witness practice grow.”
“Very helpful info, validated I’m doing a number of things well, but also showed me areas/opportunities for improvement.”
“The course was spectacular, and I am fired up to develop my expert-witness work for the coming decade. The content was exactly the sort of informed and doable advice I was looking for.”
“Treasure trove of real world, practical information.”
“This is the second SEAK course I have attended and the amount of valuable information and advice provided is almost overwhelming, but it is always top shelf and excellent!”
