Expert witness services
Independent expert testimony and consulting support on civil rights compliance practice: what the frameworks require, what defensible process looks like, and whether an institution met the standard.
What this covers
Testimony
Deposition and hearing testimony on compliance practice, process standards, and institutional obligations.
Consulting expert
Non-testifying review of a file, a process, or an opposing expert report.
Standard of practice
What a reasonable coordinator, investigator, or decision maker would have done, and when.
Process critique
Where a grievance process departed from what the regulations and the institution’s own policy required.
How an engagement runs
Three phases, and what each one actually involves.
Before engagement
Conflicts
Screened against the parties, counsel, the institution, and any prior involvement in the facts. We will not opine on a matter we investigated.
Scope and terms
Retained by counsel, with scope, rate, and the cost advance in writing. We tell you at this point if we think the opinion will not help you.
The work
Review
The record, the policy that governed, the process as it ran, and the standard that applies. We ask for what is missing rather than working around it.
Opinion
A written opinion stating the basis, the materials relied on, and the limits of what can be said from them.
Testimony
Deposition and trial
Prepared, available, and consistent with the written opinion. We do not adjust a conclusion between the report and the stand.
After
Materials retained under our records schedule, and a legal hold applied for as long as the matter is live.
How expert work is priced
Expert work is billed hourly and never any other way. Preparation, file review, report writing, deposition, and testimony are the same rate, because the work is the same work and a discounted review rate creates an incentive nobody should have.
We do not accept contingency arrangements in any matter, and expert work is where that rule matters most. An expert paid on the outcome is an advocate, and opposing counsel will establish that in the first five minutes.
- Unit
- Hourly, across every phase of the work.
- Basis
- The standard schedule, with an advance before testimony.
- Never
- No contingency, no success fee, no outcome-linked rate.
- Obligation
- Accuracy, not the party who retained us.
Published rates
Signing a service agreement earns 15 percent off general services and locks the rate for the term.
Review and analysis
File review, analysis, and consultation.
- Hourly $550 to $700
- Minimum increment One tenth of an hour
- Billing Monthly in arrears, net 30
Report writing
Written opinion and any supplement.
- Hourly $550 to $700
- Supplemental report Same rate
- Rebuttal Same rate
Deposition and testimony
Time under oath and preparation for it.
- Hourly $550 to $700
- Cost advance $5,000 before testimony work begins
- Travel time Billed at rate, expenses at cost
What the fee covers
Conflicts screening, file review, analysis, the written opinion, preparation, and time under oath. The same rate applies throughout.
What sits outside it
Travel expenses at cost. Investigation of the underlying matter is separate work and we will not do both in the same case.
Cost advance
A $5,000 advance is required before testimony work begins, applied against fees rather than held as a premium.
No contingency
We do not accept contingency arrangements in any matter, expert work included. An opinion that pays more if it lands a certain way is not an opinion.
Independence
We are not litigation counsel and do not advocate for a party. Our obligation runs to the accuracy of the opinion, including where it does not help the party who retained us.
Insurance
Professional liability of $2,000,000 each claim and $2,000,000 aggregate, written through Hiscox.
A limit worth stating early
We will not offer an opinion we do not hold, and we will tell counsel before an engagement letter is signed if the record does not support the position they are hoping for. That is what makes the opinion worth having when it does support it.
Read the questions we get