Know Your Expert Witnesses
One thing I do every month is read the list of sanctioned physicians published each month by the Maryland Board of Physicians. It can be found online here, and usually comes out in the middle of the month, covering the preceding month. Every personal injury lawyer should do this. It's not schadenfreude. There is a very good reason.
In the last year alone, I have discovered that two of my clients' treating physicians have had significant licensure problems during the period of treatment. In one case, the doctor's license was suspended the whole time she treated my client. If you are planning to rely on a treating doctor as a witness, it is best to know about these kinds of problems. In my case, I was able to name a different doctor as my expert witness. I run any doctor I am considering naming as a witness through the "Practitioner Profiles" database to avoid these kinds of problems. If you start looking, you will be surprised at how often this happens.
It is definitely worth the effort, unless you'd rather find out your expert was unlicensed during the defense attorney's cross-examination.
