Expert brokerages, called Intermediaries, will list you and your credentials in their own private database or registry, and then promote your availability to law firms.
You sign a contract, agreeing to work for a fixed rate on an hourly basis. When they find you a job, they will charge the law firm that engages you a rate that is higher than your standard consulting rate. They keep the distinction.
Generally, Intermediaries charge you nothing up front, pay their own promotional and marketing costs, and act as your agent in obtaining litigation support jobs for you.
If you are still a relatively new expert witness, you can expect to receive your current consulting rate from these intermediaries. They will add $ 50-$ 150 per hour to your rate and charge that higher figure to the hiring law firm. The extra hourly rate beyond your normal consulting rate determines how much money they earn in total. This can add up dramatically, especially in cases that continue for months and years, with every single one of your hours contributing to their bottom line.
When they find a job for you, the great news for you is that you would otherwise never have heard of the job without them. The good news for them is that once they find you this job, they have to do little else other than collect the money from the law firm every month and pay you. They risk nothing other than their upfront time and energy to find you the law cases to work on.
Once you start receiving cases from these organizations, you will realize that attorneys are willing to pay these higher rates for your services. This signifies that you probably can raise your own consulting rates. However, as you raise your consulting fees, these intermediaries must raise their fees.
Intermediaries have to meet business criteria for profit margins. Consequently, the final rate they charge law firms may exceed what the firms are willing to pay, and you may then lose possible new cases. To avoid that, you may have to revise downward your agreed-upon consulting rates when you use an intermediary organization. On the surface this sounds not ideal, but you obtain extra business and are earning more money than you were. Not a problem.
Judd Robbins has been an internationally recognized expert witness since 1986 in the US and in the UK. In 2010, his book “Expert Witness Training” was published by Presentation Dynamics. Robbins has advanced degrees from UC Berkeley and the University of Michigan, has been an Information Systems manager and an Education Systems manager, and consults in both computer and legal issues. Learn more about Mr. Robbins and his Expert Witness Training materials at www.juddrobbins.com
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