Before the retainer,
a short conversation.

A pre-retention conversation exists to answer one question: do this matter and this expert fit. That covers the case in outline and the practicalities of the engagement, and none of it requires disclosing strategy, work product or anything privileged. The list of fair topics is short and concrete.

• Case type: use of force, false arrest, police misconduct, deficient investigation, self-defense or criminal defense support
• Posture: pre-suit, discovery, expert disclosure due, dispositive motions or trial set
• Jurisdiction and court, with the case number
• Key deadlines, starting with expert disclosure and trial
• The general shape of the record: video, reports, statements, depositions, training files, agency policy
• Fit and availability against the sixty-day report window

Fit questions are answered directly. If a matter falls outside the practice areas, or the calendar cannot honor the sixty-day report window, counsel hears that in the first conversation rather than after a retainer is signed. Availability is handled the same way, stated against the disclosure calendar before anyone has spent anything.

The conversation runs in both directions. The expert’s fit questions are the mirror image of counsel’s: what the case type is, where the matter stands, which court it sits in, what the record already holds, and whether the deadline leaves room for a report worth writing.

The practice publishes what most pre-retention calls exist to ask. The fee schedule is on the site, so budgeting needs no phone call; the figures counsel plans against are set out in police expert witness fees, explained. The engagement path, from conflict check to record to report, is published the same way.

The intake form mirrors the same logic. Its fields ask for four things because a first conversation runs on those four answers:

• Case type, chosen from the practice areas
• Posture, from pre-suit through post-conviction
• Jurisdiction and court
• The next deadline, if one is set

Arrive with those answers and the call is short, specific and useful. What remains after fit is scope: a preliminary case-merit evaluation, a consulting-only retention, or a testifying one. The conflict check clears, the retainer is confirmed in writing, and the record follows on physical media.

And when the honest answer is no fit, that answer comes just as quickly. A practice that publishes its fees, its report window and its engagement path has no reason to stretch a first call into a sales call. The boundary holds from the first conversation on: legal conclusions remain counsel’s, and the expert addresses police practices.