How to Turn Defeats Into Victories by Learning and Adapting

𝗟𝗲𝘁'𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 (𝙫𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡) 𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀

My 𝟯𝙧𝙙 medical malpractice review was bonkers ...


In 2021, I was contacted to review a case in litigation

• It was already 8 years old
• The prior expert hadn't worked out
• There was pressure to accept all work
• I was fresh to expert witness consulting
• Statutes of limitation were fast approaching

𝙎𝙤 𝙄 𝙧𝙪𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙢𝙮 𝙛𝙚𝙚 𝙨𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙𝙪𝙡𝙚


The attorney replied back with a list of terms

• My hourly rate would be $300 instead of $400
• My charge for phone calls would be zero $
• My max time would not exceed 5 hours
• My turnaround time would be 11 days
• My retainer would also be waived

𝙎𝙤 𝙄 𝙨𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙢𝙨


Then they sent me the medical records

• No continuity
• 67 Separate PDFs
• 30 Different folders
• 1.2 Gigabytes of data
• Multiple corrupted files
• Duplicates under different names

𝙎𝙤 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙠𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙤𝙪𝙩


12 hours of billable work later ...

They scheduled a phone call to discuss my findings

𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙢𝙚 𝙪𝙥 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙣𝙤-𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙙


2 weeks after the original schedule call ...

They scheduled a 2nd call to discuss my findings

𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙜𝙤𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙩


4 months in a row I emailed my 5-hour invoice ...

They ignored my bills and inquiries

𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙜𝙤𝙩 𝙣𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙮 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙣𝙚𝙧


𝙉𝙤𝙬, 𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙢𝙨


Here's the best part:

2 Years later they emailed me to review a new matter

I declined

𝙁𝙤𝙤𝙡 𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚 ...



𝙃𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙡𝙖𝙬 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙢𝙨? 𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙚𝙨?