Experts

Despite my best efforts at avoiding work, I find myself still handling some cases I find interesting. They're both fire cases, an area where I've gained a good deal of experience and expertise over the years.

In one case, a man died in his house due to faulty electrical wiring. He's survived by 2 very nice adult children.

In the other, a man was working on a job site when a gas powered tool exploded, burning him. He'll probably never work again in construction, and is scarred for life.

My partner and I have been interviewing expert witnesses for the tool case. In the house fire, we hired a terrific consultant, a fellow we've worked with on 4 other fire cases. He's probably the best engineer of all time --he checks out a scene, reviews all of the evidence, and then explains to me what went wrong, why, and how.

In the tool case, we need a mechanical engineer to evaluate the exploding object, to tell us why the accident happened.

As much as I complain about the practice of law, this is one pretty cool part of it --consulting with expert. It's very interesting to learn about their areas, and share their experiences.

The experts who are good in court also have to be great communicators. They have to speak well and clearly. Foreign experts almost never make the grade, though they may be brilliant.

Today we met with a materials engineer up in Hollywood. He's from Ohio, and spend a lot of his career in the marine industry, reconstructing boiler explosions. He had fascinating tales to tell.

In my 23 years as a lawyer, I've spent a lot of time with boating experts, aviation experts, traffic reconstruction people, econmists, rehabilitative consultants, and, of course, MEDICAL experts.

I guess this is why lawyers do so well on Jeopardy! We learn a little about a lot of things.