Reference shelf
Guides for counsel
Working notes on retaining, vetting, paying, and challenging expert witnesses — written from the published record (the surveys, rules, and compendia each guide cites) and from how this docket is compiled. They are information about the directory's subject matter, not legal advice, and they make no claim about any individual firm listed here.
Daubert and Frye, explained for the retaining attorney
What the two admissibility tests actually ask, where each governs, and what the difference means for the expert file you build before disclosure.
How attorneys find and vet expert witnesses
The five real channels attorneys use to find experts, and the vetting pass — credentials, CV, testimony history, conflicts, fees — that should follow before any records move.
Reading an expert's CV for admissibility risk
A working method for reading an expert CV the way opposing counsel will: testimony list first, then credentials against registers, then publications for consistency.
What drives an expert's fee
The published 2026 survey figures, and the structural factors — phase, minimums, retainers, cancellation terms — that decide what an engagement actually costs.
Working backwards from the disclosure deadline
Why expert engagements fail on the calendar rather than on the merits, and a backwards-planning sequence from disclosure date to first call.
Challenging the opposing expert
The grounds on which expert testimony is actually limited or excluded — qualification, reliability, fit, and the record counsel builds from CV, transcripts, and publications.
Start with the forum
Most of the guides turn on which admissibility standard governs your case. The state-by-state index records the standard for every jurisdiction in this docket.