Description
This is SEAK’s most popular expert witness training program. Learn the step-by-step process for obtaining expert witness assignments and excelling at them. Expert witnessing is interesting work which allows the expert the opportunity to teach and explain their field to judges, jurors, and lawyers. What is learned while analyzing cases as an expert often helps experts perform better at their professions. Experts are commonly compensated for their time at $300–$800 or more per hour. Trials are typically rare (most cases settle or are dismissed before trial) and most of the work consists of research, analysis and report writing — which can be done from home.
How to Start, Build and Run a Successful Expert Witness Practice is appropriate for professionals of all disciplines and with all levels of expert witness experience including both highly experienced and novice experts. You will be ready to start accepting expert witness assignments immediately upon completion of this course.
Learning Objectives: At the completion of this course you will learn:
- The role of expert witnesses in civil litigation,
- What attorneys are looking for from their experts,
- How to properly define your area(s) of expertise and practice areas,
- How to draft a curriculum vitae appropriate for expert witness work,
- How to get cases,
- How to avoid ethical problems and maintain your integrity,
- How to set your fee and collect it,
- What to bill for and when,
- How to draft a retention agreement to protect your rights,
- How to form defensible opinions,
- Techniques for maintaining your independence and objectivity,
- How to exceed expectations,
- How to build a tremendous reputation,
- Ethics,
- Expert witness risk management techniques, and
- Much, much more.
Registration Information/Tuition/Discounts: Tuition is $1,495 on or before March 14, 2025, $1,595 March 15–April 8, 2025, and $1,695 after April 8, 2025. Your tuition includes continental breakfast and lunch each day and a detailed conference manual. Group discounts are available for two or more persons registering together for the same course 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 while at the seminar and main conference. THIS COURSE IS ALSO AVAILABLE TO STREAM ON-DEMAND, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
Location/Hotel Accommodations: The 2025 SEAK Expert Witness Conference will be held at the Opal Sands Resort, Clearwater Beach, FL. SEAK has secured a special group rate of $389/night. Rooms are limited and this rate expires on April 8, 2025. The Opal Sands Resort offers guests ultra-modern Gulf front accommodations on the Gulf of Mexico, right on Clearwater Beach’s lively promenade. The Opal Sands Resort is located within walking distance of dozens of restaurants and is a 20 mile/30 minute cab, rideshare or shuttle ride from Tampa International Airport, so we suggest saving money and time by not renting a car. To make your reservations, please call 1-855-335-1087 and refer to the SEAK Group rate or click here.
Cancellations: Conference cancellations received in writing on or before April 8, 2025 will receive a full tuition refund. Conference cancellations received after April 8, 2025 will receive a full tuition credit.
Continuing Education Credits: Note: If your specialty does not appear below and you desire credits, please contact Karen Cerbarano (781-826-4974 or Karen@seak.com). We can often obtain desired credits upon request, but unfortunately, obtaining some types of credits are not feasible. Please register early, as we can only apply for credits after your registration form has been received and it can take time to get the requested approvals back from the accrediting agencies. Accident Reconstructionists: SEAK will apply for credits through ACTAR upon written request at the time of registration. Accountants: State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. SEAK will provide each attendee with a certificate of attendance. Appraisers: Credits from The American Society of Appraisers will be applied for on written request at the time of registration. Arborists: SEAK will apply for Continuing Education hours through The International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) on written request at time of registration. Attorneys: Credit varies by state. Continuing legal education credits for attorneys will be applied for if requested in writing at the time of registration. Engineers: 14 PDHs. The acceptance of this course is dependent upon your state(s) of registration. The vast majority of states do not require preapproval of either courses or course sponsors. Life Care Planners: SEAK will apply for credits through The Commission on Health Care Certification (CHCC) upon written request at the time of registration. Physicians: SEAK, Inc. is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. SEAK, Inc. designates this live activity for a maximum of 14 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)TM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. NOTE: SEAK does not accept commercial support for its programs and does not use faculty members with conflicts of interest.
Faculty:
Chip Darius, OHST, CIT, CSHO, is an OSHA / Safety Consultant and Trainer with many years’ experience serving clients in general industry, construction, utilities and emergency services. In addition to his consulting and training business, Mr. Darius is an Instructor for the OSHA Training Institute Region 1 Education Center, where he has been teaching courses on OSHA regulations for two decades. Mr. Darius is a well experienced Forensic Expert Witness and Litigation Consultant in catastrophic injury, fatality and personal injury matters. He has experience in both plaintiff and defense cases, in state and federal matters. He has significant testimony experience in depositions and at trials. Mr. Darius has conducted training at international, national, regional, state and local conferences and seminars. He earned BS and MA degrees from the University of Connecticut. Mr. Darius has also been a certified Emergency Medical Technician for over 40 years.
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 at 781-491-6802 or kelly@seak.com.
Day One: Thursday, May 1, 2025
7:30am – 8:00am REGISTRATION & CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST
8:00am – 8:30am The Role of Expert Witnesses in Civil Litigation
Attendees will learn the proper role of expert witnesses in civil litigation. Included is an explanation of Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and the types of specific assignments experts can expect from retaining counsel including forensic consulting, report writing, and where necessary, testifying at deposition or trial. Questions & Answers
8:30am – 9:30am What Successful Expert Witnesses Have in Common
Faculty and the attendees will analyze what some of the nation’s “go to” experts have in common and how they got to their position of prominence. Videotaped interviews of the experts will be reviewed. Lessons for the attendees will be drawn from these examples. Questions & Answers
9:30am – 10:30am Finding and Developing Your Niche in the Expert Witness Marketplace
Faculty will explain the advantages of identifying a niche for yourself. Attendees will be provided with a protocol for researching their niche, determining the proper fit and developing their niche to its fullest potential. Questions & Answers
10:30am – 10:45am BREAK & NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY
10:45am – 12:00pm Pulling Together a CV Appropriate for Expert Witness Work
Anyone considering starting an expert witness practice needs to maintain a CV. Attendees will learn the importance of an accurate, up-to-date CV, what should and should not be on a CV, and how mistakes in preparing CVs can damage or destroy an expert’s credibility. Sample CVs will be provided. Questions & Answers
12:00pm – 12:45pm LUNCH PROVIDED & NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY
12:45pm – 1:45pm Bulletproofing Yourself – Your Qualifications, Marketing Activities, Website, Image & Reputation
A mock trial demonstration followed by bottom line bullet point advice with numerous examples on how to avoid potentially devastating problems in an expert’s qualifications, marketing activities, website, image and reputation. Questions & Answers
1:45pm – 2:15pm Bulletproofing Your Opinions – Passing the Daubert Tests, Your Methodology
An in-depth discussion of the legal requirements of Daubert and FRE 702 as they relate to how an expert forms and expresses his/her opinion(s) and the admissibility of the opinions. Numerous examples will be discussed. The lecture continues with practical advice on how to avoid being caught in a Daubert nightmare and how to use the Daubert criteria as a roadmap to bolster the persuasiveness of any opinion. Questions & Answers
2:15pm – 3:00pm Bulletproofing Your Opinions – Research, Investigation, Chart Review and Examination
An expert witness’s opinion will only be as strong as the facts, research and investigation upon which it is based. Attendees will learn how to conduct an investigation, perform research and collect data in a manner that bolsters an expert’s opinion. Questions & Answers
3:00pm – 3:15pm BREAK & NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY
3:15pm – 3:45pm Bulletproofing Your Opinions – Managing the Potentially Damaging Influence of Retaining Counsel
Expert Witnesses often severely damage or destroy the persuasiveness of their opinions by allowing retaining counsel to influence (or appear to influence) their investigation, assumptions, and opinions. In this segment attendees will learn how to insulate their opinions from the appearance of being under the influence of retaining counsel, for example through the information the expert witness relies upon, the modification of draft and preliminary opinions, and through the communications between the expert witness and retaining counsel. Questions & Answers
3:45pm – 4:00pm Bulletproofing Your Opinions – Rebuttals and Commenting On Other Experts
Commenting on another expert’s opinions is an area that gets many experts into unnecessary difficulty. In this segment experts will learn the right way and wrong way to comment on another expert’s opinions. Questions & Answers
4:00pm – 5:00pm Best Practices in Forensic Office Management
Attendees will learn a myriad of techniques that will help them run an efficient and successful litigation support consulting practice. These include optimum new case intake procedures, billing systems, document receipt and retention policies, support staff training and instruction, file maintenance, trial scheduling, procedures for keeping your CV up-to-date, how to account for all time spent on the case, responsibilities and boundaries, security and confidentiality protocols and developing and using forms, templates and checklists. Questions & Answers
Day Two: Friday, May 2, 2025
6:30am – 7:00am CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST & NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY
7:00am – 8:00am Best Practices in Dealing with Counsel
A frank discussion of how to best deal with retaining and opposing counsel. Included is an explanation of the importance of maintaining boundaries, how to best communicate with retaining counsel, the importance of not giving away your theories or reviewing any confidential information until you have been retained, how to deal with non-responsive or incompetent lawyers, how to deal with failure to prepare you for deposition or trial, being pushed beyond your true area of expertise, how to handle “rush” requests for reports and opinions and how to avoid problems before they materialize. Questions & Answers
8:00am – 9:00am Best Practices in Report Writing
Faculty will review the most efficient methods for dealing with requests for preliminary, draft, and other written reports. Best practices for responding to input from counsel, formatting, editing, controls over release of the report, signing, and proofreading will be provided. There will also be an in-depth discussion on the use and misuse of computer templates to assist in report writing. A sample expert witness report will be provided. Questions & Answers
9:00am – 9:15am BREAK & NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY
9:15am – 10:00am Deposition Best Practices
Attendees will be provided with an in-depth look at scheduling, billing, postponements, cancellations, errata sheets, and retention/destruction of deposition transcripts. A list of expected areas of inquiry will be provided. Questions & Answers
10:00am – 10:45am Trial Best Practices
Attendees will learn more than twenty techniques to help them prepare for trial. These techniques deal with issues which include dress, logistics, travel, scheduling, payment, and visual aids. Questions & Answers
10:45am – 11:00am BREAK & NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY
11:00am – 12:00pm Best Practices in Fee Setting, Fee Schedules & Agreements, Billings and Collections
Experts will learn how to correctly value their time and set their fee. They will be taught the importance of not undercharging and how to determine exactly what their time is worth. Also included is a detailed discussion of the amount and frequency of retainers, whether retainers should be non-refundable, cancellation fees, expense reimbursement and proven techniques to improve collections of expert witness and consulting fees. Attendees will be provided with sample expert witness retention contract language that addresses 15 common problems faced by expert witnesses. Questions & Answers
12:00pm – 12:45pm LUNCH PROVIDED & NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY
12:45pm – 1:45pm Advanced Marketing Techniques for Building an Expert Witness Practice
Faculty and attendees will engage in a frank discussion and analysis of the utility of: search engine optimization, social media, networking, writing articles, speaking, directory listings, fees, advertising, referral services/brokers and 24 – 7 marketing. Questions & Answers
1:45pm – 2:15pm Ethics and Risk Management
Experts will learn how to deal with common ethical problems and will learn the potential civil and professional liability of experts. Numerous specific risk management techniques for experts will be explained including avoidance, maintaining the appropriate insurance coverages, due diligence, confidentiality protocols, anti-spoliation procedures, avoiding conflicts and the overriding importance of being 100% honest. Questions & Answers
2:15pm – 2:30pm Conclusion and Takeaways
Concluding remarks will be preceded by an attendee and faculty generated numbered list of action steps and takeaways from the covered material that attendees will be taking home to their practices to start, build and run a better and more successful expert witness practice. Questions & Answers
What past attendees have to say:
“Very informative and ‘eye-opening.’ I certainly appreciated the hard-line ‘this is a combat sport’ approach, because I would rather hear it up front then be caught off guard later. I thought the instructors did a great job of sharing pitfalls of experience to which we would not otherwise be exposed other than by life experiences and years, and frankly, by getting burned.”
“Great job! They were awesome! Informative, incredibly knowledgeable and added humor tokeep the participants engaged. I especially appreciated the fact that the presenters really got to know each participant to best meet their individual needs.”
“It was a great program that was rich in content that can be utilized to make changes to my current practice. The SEAK conferences are life changing!”
“Excellent. Great intro into the field.”
“Excellent; the faculty was very responsive to questions.”
“Fantastic! So much great info, not just about medical expert witness, but general business advice.”
“Very knowledgeable faculty. Practical and to the point.”
“Very well organized and structured.”
“The entire course was extremely well done extremely educational, and I would change nothing.”
“Learning about others' experiences and getting feedback about my own strategies [was useful/interesting]; very positive outlook from faculty.”
“Excellent presentations. Extremely informative and educational for those entering the field.”
“Keep it up. The energy was great. Enjoyed the entire course.”
“Some of the best presentations I’ve seen in my career.”
“Very responsive to questions. That is a very good trait for presenters.”
“Wonderful course. See you again soon.”
“Highly effective training … Great use of teaching by examples.”
“Really well organized and grounded on experience.”
“This was a great course. I would recommend it to others looking to do this type of work.”
“Very informative and 'eye-opening.' I certainly appreciated the hard-line ‘this is a combat sport’ approach, because I would rather hear it up front then be caught off guard later. I thought the instructors did a great job of sharing pitfalls of experience to which we would not otherwise be exposed other than by life experiences and years, and frankly, by getting burned.”
“Very well put together and professional. Gets right to the point.”
“I think the concrete items of 1) documents needed, 2) script for interviews via phone, 3) financial management strategies, and general expectations setting around file review vs. depo vs. testifying were incredibly helpful.”
“It was a great program that was rich in content that can be utilized to make changes to my current practice. The SEAK conferences are life changing!”
“Really enjoyed the course and was engaged the entire time. Found all the info to be very useful.”
“A useful combination of stories from the front lines & practical advice.”
“The entire training course was filled with many useful lessons. Understanding the importance of communicating with direct and cross examination was very important. Understanding the limits of staying within the experts field of expertise was very important, I could go on...”
“The chemistry and respect among presenters added to the high quality of the course and facilitated learning.”
“Awesome presentation and instruction from industry leading pros!”
“Exceeded my expectations. It filled in holes that I expected it to fill, but provided so much more than anticipated. The teaching style and content relevance of Kelly, and Chip was as top notch as we could have asked for.”
“Very impressed with the knowledge of all the instructors. The format of the course was exceptional and easy to follow. All of the attendees were treated fairly weather the attendee was an experienced expert or a novice.”
“Superb experience.”
“Pearls of wisdom/experience [were] freely shared by presenters. I especially liked them saying what rate they recommend each type of expert charge (i.e. surgeon vs. engineer).”
“WHAT A TEAM! A great mix with Kelly and Chip!”
“Chip, Thanks for the tremendous amount of relevant and detailed info in this class. You did a terrific job. This class will make a big difference in my success and everyone who attended, I’m sure.”
“The course was wonderful and I am extremely grateful for all your insight and knowledge.”
“Excellent! Well worth the time and money.”
“Great course, very detailed and helpful to jumpstart my EW practice. “
“One of the most applicable trainings I have been to in a long time (I attend multiple a year).”
“I liked that the speakers went individually through the class and told them a fee range that would be acceptable. As the owner of a small business in a very specialized field, I’ve struggled to know what fees are appropriate for me.”
“Absolutely loved the dynamic “no hold barred” disposition of both presenters. Great.”
“I found both presenters to be informative & captivating. A two-day seminar often involves glazed-over looks at some point, but the attendees of this course were attentive & hanging on every word.”
“The SEAK trainers were Stellar. I found the staff trainers to be the most informative.”
“Excellent, only wish I had taken the course when I first heard about it”
“Loved it!”
“Loaded with powerful information.”
“A ‘must attend’ for anyone interested in this line of work.”
“A++; Thank you for your feedback and time.”
“It was such a good course and well worth the time and money.”
“The training was excellent-very informative, engaging speakers, great teaching methods.”
“You guys are great, very personable, honest, available and engaging, great job.”
“Excellent, well organized, engaging, and practical.”
“Phenomenal-did not want the seminars to end.”
“The information provided during this conference was incredible. This was certainly an investment in my practice and not an expense for it.”
“Thank you and thanks to the entire SEAK team....I attend a decent amount of seminars with my Civil Engineering degree...yours was top notch!!!!”
“Can’t tell you how the course fired me up. Been working all day getting my business together.”
“Thanks to the three of you for such a cohesive and informational course. Your presentation styles generated a want to listen and learn.”
“The most useful/interesting part of this course was the no-nonsense, straight up communication styles of all three speakers and the depth of knowledge that each speaker brought to the table.”
“I have taken a lot of training classes over the years, this was the only one where I was completely engaged over two days. In addition to your hand outs, I left with 10 pages of notes. Can’t wait for additional classes!”
“The best meeting I’ve attended in several years.”
“Awesome course! I will keep in touch and look forward to another course.”
