It's Time To Vet, Validate and Credential Expert Witnesses.

Mike Clark

Expert Witness Validation Committee Member

The Expert Witness Exchange

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.

We have done just that by creating a new vetting process and standard for credentialing expert witnesses, called The Expert WitnessValidation Badge ™.

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.

If you have more questions about the Expert Witness Exchange Validation Badge click here to read our Q&A.

You can apply for the badge online by clicking here.

for media requests, please contact Communications Director Shelly Sindland at ssindland@expertwitnessexchange.com or 860-992-9045

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.