Robert Ambrogi Blog
The business of helping lawyers find expert witnesses for litigation is one that has not changed much in a very long time. Is there an opportunity here for disruption?
One company that thinks so is Gerson Lehrman Group, the world’s largest company providing expert consultants to investors and business professionals. Over the last five years, the company has quietly expanded into the legal world, providing consulting and testifying experts for litigation and other matters.
Now the company is announcing two hires that signal a more aggressive phase of building its legal business, which it calls GLG Law. GLG has hired David Solomon, former director of financial services at legal services innovator Axiom Global, to be GLG Law’s first dedicated general manager, and David Perla, former president of Bloomberg BNA Legal and cofounder of legal-process outsourcing trailblazer Pangea3 (not to mention, Above the Law columnist), as senior advisor.
“It struck me that this was an area of the legal industry that felt like it was at an inflection point, ripe for someone to come in with some disruption and innovation,” Solomon told me during a conference call last week.
I provide a more detailed look at GLG Law and its plans for shaking up the expert witness business in my column this week at Above the Law: Company With Roots In Serving Investors Aims To Disrupt Expert Witness Business.
GLG Law is not alone in wanting to disrupt this business. Earlier this year, I gave a preview of The Expert Witness Exchange, a yet-to-launch platform its developers believe will disrupt how lawyers find, vet and choose expert witnesses by enabling attorneys to make data-driven decisions about experts. Although that product had targeted a March launch, its website still says it is “coming soon.”