At the Round Table with Dermatology Expert, Dr. Howard Maibach

Engaging Experts

Our guest, Dr. Howard Maibach is a dermatologist specializing in allergic skin disorders and toxic exposure. He has served on the editorial boards of more than thirty scientific journals, and he is a member of 19 professional societies including the American Academy of Dermatology, the San Francisco Dermatological Society, and the International Commission on Occupational Health. Dr. Maibach has a Medical Degree from Tulane and is an extremely experienced and sought-after expert witness.
In this episode . . .

Attorneys choose expert witnesses to reinforce their case, but Dr. Maibach sees an additional opportunity to promote public policy at the same time. One of his engagements impacted a Supreme Court decision:

In [my] case, I didn't have a deposition, but the case went through the testimony. It went through an appellate court, and it ended up in the Supreme Court. And I'm very happy I did that one because the result was the government scientists proved their point . . . so it is public policy and that was worth any of the trouble that was involved.

Similarly, he chooses cases that have the largest impact. When deciding whether to accept an engagement, he considers:

Is any of this likely to affect public policy? If it affects public policy and is likely to get to a higher court, I'm very much more interested . . . I only want to support the fair side of the story, I don't want to make up stories . . . [I]f I can figure that out in the first call, I'm delighted.

Additional topics include getting worn down by opposing council, preparing using self-cross examination, and the importance of repetition.