Mike Clark
Expert
Witness Validation Committee Member
It’s
time to make sure expert witnesses are properly vetted, validated and
credentialed before being retained by counsel. That’s exactly what we did and
we did it without a government mandate.
 |
| Former FBI Special Agent Mike Clark |
During my 23-year career with the FBI as a special agent, I
have been involved with numerous trials.
I’ve seen expert witnesses who have come in and done a tremendous job
for their clients, and advanced their clients’ cases in front to the jury. I’ve
also seen the opposite effect, where an expert witness really just sold his
services to the highest bidder and it blew up in the client’s face. This, no
doubt, had a detrimental impact on the case.
That’s why I decided to be part of a new process, which will
take the guesswork out of the game.
For the past several months, I have been working with a team
of experts on The Expert Witness Validation Committee, which works as an
advisory board to The Expert Witness Exchange, LLC. Our goal was simple: to
figure out the best and most comprehensive way to validate expert witnesses
before they are retained by counsel.
This is the first of its kinds enterprise that uses big data
resources and legal technology to bring due diligence for the expert witness industry.
Expert witnesses who apply online for The Expert Witness
Validation Badge ™ will have, among other things, their credentials verified,
as well as their criminal backgrounds checked. Only when an expert witness
meets our criteria, will he or she be given the badge. Those who are denied will
be given the opportunity to appeal the decision.
The Expert Witness Validation Badge ™ sets a higher bar
without requiring a government mandate.
The bottom-line is this: we did this ourselves.
Who exactly are the
WE?
WE,
as I mentioned, work as an advisory board to The Expert
Witness Exchange, LLC and represent a wide variety of experts and voices in the
judicial field. WE wanted to make
sure everyone had a seat at the table when it came to creating this new
standard for vetting and credentialing expert witnesses.
I have to say, I worked with some of the best in the field
including Mark Dubois, who is a former Connecticut Bar Association president and
who also served as Connecticut’s first Chief Disciplinary Counsel from 2003
until 2011. Dr. Paul Powers is also a committee member who served as a Fellow
of the American Board of Chiropractic Neurology. He is also a trailblazer, when
it comes to data driven technology, by establishing
compliance and monitoring standards acceptable in more than forty state
licensing authorities for course content and skills development of chiropractic
physicians along with other allied healthcare professionals. Other
members include: John Lentini, one of the most distinguished fire scientists in
the nations; Michael Kaplan whose expertise includes forensic accounting;
Cynthia Grimley an expert witness in labor relations issues and Myles Levin,
founder and CEO of the nationally recognized Daubert Tracker. Read more about our advisory board click here.
We’ve all heard the stories where cases can fall apart
because an expert witness forgot to disclose something about his past or simply
made a clerical mistake. The Expert Witness Validation Badge™ allows lawyers to
quickly check expert witnesses’ credentials to make sure they are, who they say
they are.
This will no doubt have a far-reaching impact on all
businesses and individuals who work with expert witnesses.
I would not put my name on something that I didn’t believe
in. This process is effective, efficient, and honest. The Expert Witness
Validation Badge ™ will undoubtedly
serve as a game changer for the industry.
About the author: Mike Clark is a former FBI special agent who, throughout his
career, worked on a number of high profile public corruption cases in
Connecticut, including the prosecution of former Governor John Rowland, three
big-city Mayors, as well as the former state treasurer. Since his retirement
from the FBI, Clark works as an expert witness with his specialty in
white-collar crime and public corruption.
