I suggested a few days ago scheduling a session in an APTLA conference on cost control in civil litigation involving experts. (Ref. 1) Such a session might include a keynote speaker. Ideally, one each from the legal and expert communities for such an important topic.
Tom Vesper from New Jersey is speaking on “quantifying the priceless” at the conference this November in Halifax in keeping with the theme of the meeting. I’m sure he would have suggestions for a speaker on cost control, from the legal community at least.
I know it would be easy to find a speaker from the expert community in the U.S. Likely in Canada too. An Expert Directory by SEAK, Inc. identifies experts in about 1,600 different fields in the U.S. and Canada. A number are in a financial specialty of one kind or another, including assessing and calculating damages. I’m sure any one of them would have something worthwhile to contribute – a lot of ideas, including practical ones, on how to control the cost of litigation. I identified some ways of doing this earlier.
The experts are retained by the legal profession and insurance firms in the U.S. and charge a fee for their services like experts do in Atlantic Canada.
For certain, it would be good to have at least one keynote speaker – if APTLA recognizes the benefit of a session on cost control. Get a dialogue going on the best way of wrestling the elephant in the room to the ground and controlling the cost of litigation. A keynote speaker from the expert community would beef up the dialogue.
References
- Cost Control in Civil Litigation. Posted September 8, 2016