An enquiry arrives from a solicitor. There is a dispute over a failed structure, they need a report in six weeks, and the fee mentioned is considerably better than the firm's usual work.
Whether to take it depends on questions that have nothing to do with the fee.
When dispute work fits a practice
It fits when someone in the firm has genuine expertise in the specific subject, when they understand the duties involved, when the deadline is achievable alongside existing commitments and when the firm can absorb the possibility of a hearing months later.
When to decline
Decline when the subject is adjacent to your expertise rather than within it, when a conflict exists or might, when the deadline is unrealistic, when nobody in the firm has done this before, or when the instructing party seems to want a particular conclusion rather than an opinion.
Run the conflict check first
All parties, their advisers and anyone connected. Accepting an instruction and discovering a conflict afterwards is damaging and entirely avoidable with one question.
Understand the duty
An expert's overriding duty is to the tribunal or court rather than to the instructing party. Firms new to this sometimes approach it as advocacy, which is both wrong and quickly exposed.
Establish what opinion is sought
On what specific question, and whether the instruction is for a full report or an initial view. Many disputes need a preliminary opinion first, which is cheaper for the client and safer for the expert.
Be clear about what you may conclude
That the opinion may not assist the instructing party. Saying so at the outset sets the relationship correctly and filters out the instructions you should not take.
Establish the timetable properly
Report deadline, exchange of reports, meetings between experts and any hearing. These dates are fixed by a process and cannot be moved around other work.
Price it as its own service
Hourly rates for expert work differ from project consultancy, with terms covering cancellation, hearing attendance and payment. Publishing that this is separately priced prevents comparison against a project rate.
Establish what documents exist
Drawings, correspondence, reports, photographs and site access. An opinion formed on incomplete information is a liability, and the availability of material determines whether the work is possible.
Explain who does the work
The named expert, and what support is provided. A report must be the expert's own opinion and cannot be delegated in substance.
Decide about hearing attendance
Days in a hearing, months later, are a real commitment. Being honest about availability before accepting matters more than the fee.
Publish that you offer it, and the limits
A page naming the subjects in which the firm acts, and the duties involved, attracts appropriate instructions and deters the rest, which is the qualification approach in project enquiries for engineering consultancies.
Fee clarity decides instructions
It is covered in fee proposals and scope questions for engineering firms and fee questions that decide which firm gets the client.
Getting started
Publish the subjects you act in, your terms and what you need for a conflict check, then capture instructions at any hour, much as described in an AI receptionist for accountants in tax season. SpideyChat for B2B firms answers from your published pages. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about capture on the features page.