Tracy Liberatore: Please tell us about the workyoudoas headof MedLegal Pro (MLP). A large part of what I do is help attorneys figure out which expert it is they need. For example, sometimes they call with case facts and don’t know what sort of expert they need. More often than not, they call thinking they need one type of expert when they really need another. The most common area where this comes up is in deciding between a medical examiner and a medical toxicologist. It is very fact-specific details that cause it to be one rather than the other. My unique combination of medical and legal degrees enables me to move in both circles. I can speak about medicine to the doctors and other medical providers to help them understand the cases and screen them to see if they are the right expert for the case. I can also help them understand the legal aspects of the case so they can better understand what it is they are supposed to be doing. This is most helpful with new experts who are not familiar with the law. What ledyou to found MLP? I started MLP from the ground up while I was attending law school. I started locally with one attorney who gaveme a chance to work in his office and attend depositions. From there I did my internship with his office and the federal public defenders', as well as another criminal defence office, to give myself a more well-rounded exposure to the legal world. I started with nursing home cases and a single expert, which quickly turned into a niche based on requests for other experts for the same cases he was already working on. He got so busy I had to find other nursing home experts to pick up some of the case overflow. The most frequent request I would get was for a conscious pain and suffering/cause of death expert, which is where Dr Diaz came in. We had also been working together for years but as of April, I took him on as a more fulltime expert, handling his marketing and business so he could work solely on cases. Seeing how this business model worked for everyone involved, I decided again to replicate it as appropriate experts would arise. My expert practice is quite different from other expert firms out there. I did not really market MLP directly; I replicated what worked with a single expert – that was marketing the expert directly and running the business side of things so the expert could work on the cases solely and not worry about trying to run a business. I handle all their marketing, contracts, retainers, record gathering and other aspects involved in taking on a case. As an attorney, the retainers go into a trust account, so if there is a refund due our clients never have to worry about the funds not being available to be returned, 67 JUL 2022 | WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM EXPERT WITNESS as I adhere strictly to the rules required as an attorney for retainers. Since 2020 I have expanded my experts beyond nursing homes to include a few others who I feel are at the top of their profession. I would not feel comfortable marketing them otherwise. HowelsehasMLP developed its services since its inception? The other thing we offer is a 30-day turnaround on case reviews, unless otherwise specified. From time to time we do have a case where an expert gets so busy we have to find another to take on the overflow or extend review times, but this will be known up front on the initial intake call. We also handle case screens by nurses for merit review if there is a question of whether or not there is a case to pursue. This is good if there is any question about the validity of a case and best to learn up front before investing thousands of dollars on experts, depositions and years of work in a case. By far the biggest part of what we do is help manage experts from both sides. For the expert we manage their business; for the attorneys we help them find the right expert and make sure things are done on time and deadlines are met. This is how the business has evolved over the years and how it continues to grow now going forward. My unique combination of medical and legal degrees enables me to move in both circles.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy Mjk3Mzkz