Expert Evaluation Reports: Their expert's back story

Q: My organization represents a school district currently fighting a lawsuit stemming from a swimming pool accident. I see that the plaintiff has retained as an expert Thomas Ebro, whom the plaintiff describes as an "aquatic safety expert." What are the best databases to search in order to learn what I can about Ebro's background, litigation history, biases, and likely testimony—without spending all my time on this?

A: Instead of searching databases, retrieve Mr. Ebro's Expert Evaluator Report on Westlaw. An Expert Evaluator Report typically contains information such as the following:

• case types, jury verdict award ranges, judges, and attorneys in cases in which the expert appeared
• the expert's areas of expertise
• clients who have retained the expert in past litigation
• the courts and jurisdictions in which the expert has testified
• how many times the expert testified for plaintiffs or defendants

The report also contains links to full-text court documents, including trial testimony and affidavits on file. To retrieve court documents applicable to the filters you have applied, click Expert Document List in the left frame.

How do Expert Evaluator Reports save you time? There are at least two ways:

• It's easy to retrieve the correct report: At the Expert Evaluator Reports search template, simply type the expert's name in the text boxes and click Search Westlaw. (To access the template, click Expert Evaluator Reports at the Westlaw Site Map, on the tabbed Expert or Litigation page, or on the Links tab of the expert's profile.)
• It's easy to read the report: The information in an Expert Evaluator Report is presented not as a narrative, but as a series of intuitive tables you can scan quickly. (For example, it takes mere seconds to determine that in the vast majority of cases, Mr. Ebro testifies for the plaintiff.) You can add filters or break down case types with a simple mouse-click.

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