Consulting in the Public Interest

CiPI can provide the following services for attorneys who practice public interest litigation or who represent green companies:

• Provide advice on the scientific merits of a possible legal case
• Develop a strategy for dealing with the scientific and technical aspects of a case
• Identify and screen scientific and technical experts
• Advise attorneys as to whether or not expert reports can pass "Daubert" challenges.

Why would an attorney want CiPI's help? In addition to serving as a locator of top-notch expert witnesses, CiPI can pass on the benefits of its experience in complex technical proceedings. CiPI's experience includes:

• Providing a crucial affidavit that led to certification of a medical monitoring class at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons facility (Please see Dr. Beyea's Affidavit and excerpts from Judge Kane's Order certifying the medical monitoring class.)
• Developed a scientific strategy for proving that sufficient plutonium had been released at Rocky Flats to justify community concerns that led to a drop in propery values. Identified a panel of experts who testified at a 2006 trial in which the jury awarded $350 million in property damages. See news story that appeared in the Rocky Mountain News, 2/15/2006
• Helped attorneys develop a scientific strategy for almost one thousand plaintiffs in the Hanford Nuclear Weapons Facility case (Hanford Nuclear Reservation Litigation, Master Case File No.CY91-3015-AAM). In a historic first, a jury awarded damages to two offsite cancer victim as part of bellwether trials. See news story that appeared in the Seatlle Times, 5/20/2005
• Identified more than 15 scientific experts who filed reports in the Hanford litigation
• Critically reviewed a dozen expert reports filed by opposing attorneys in the Hanford litigation
• Provided technical and strategic support in eight of the 12 settled plutonium-injection cases (Please see an Associated Press article about the settlement.)

The need for the kind of support CiPI can provide has increased dramatically now that the Supreme Court has set new standards for expert witnesses. Lawyers who lack a strong scientific background can have a difficult time assessing whether a particular case has scientific merit. Also, lawyers may be unable to prepare scientific experts to withstand Daubert challenges, as the record of recent successful attacks on plaintiffs' experts proves. CiPI's experience in assisting attorneys in understanding more than 40 expert reports can bridge the gap between the scientist/engineer and the attorney.

Why does CiPI restrict its services to citizens' litigation and support for green companies? There are hordes of consultants available for the remainder.

Consulting in the Public Interest
Box 220
Lambertville, NJ 08530
(609) 397-2370
(609) 397-1209 FAX

This page was last updated on 05/15/07.