That's my procedure anyway. What you tell your testifying expert is discoverable, so whatever you put in writing should be perfectly worded to put your point of view in the best light. But e-mail encourages quick, sloppy writing, and is not always conducive to organized, thoughtful exchanges. What's worse, when you use e-mail, you're encouraging your expert to reply by e-mail, and you can be sure he's not reviewing his response from a lawyer's point of view.
Perhaps I'm old school and paranoid, but I won't even send a letter to an expert. I just attach a business card to whatever it is (such as medical records) I'm sending. All other communication is by telephone.
Very good advice, and as defense counsel we do the exact same thing.
Posted by: UCL | March 23, 2004 at 04:22 PM
I see that I have a very well trained expert in one present case because he asked me not to email him even before I could advise against it.
Posted by: Carolyn Elefant | March 25, 2004 at 10:13 PM