Lawyer Monthly - November 2021 Edition

planning to fail”, that neatly summarises why planning is so critical to successfully managing these major investigations. This planning should begin long before an incident occurs and continue as an investigation proceeds. A key aspect of pre-event planning is identifying various probable major loss scenarios and then locating experts and outside counsel with the expertise and experience to manage these types of incidents. When potential investigation experts and outside law firms have been identified, this is a great opportunity to review and evaluate their expertise and credentials and ensure that their emergency contact information is readily available. While there will always be a number of unknown factors, some key aspects to be considered and continually re-evaluated once an incident has occurred include the following: • Will the investigation be managed as privileged work product? • Do any of the proposed outside law firms, investigators, experts, or laboratories have any potential conflicts of interest? attorneys was a relatively new associate for one of the parties, who arrived at the scene in Christian Louboutin pumps with five-inch heels and a very nice suit. We offered to delay the inspection for an hour to allow her to drive down the road to the local store andbuy somemore appropriate attire but were firmly rebuffed. A few minutes into the inspection, she caught her foot in some debris, fell, and promptly broke her ankle. She was taken to the hospital by ambulance and got a cast on her leg while I learned a valuable lesson about being more forceful regarding site safety for attorneys. How have recent advances in technology changed how you and the other experts at IFO serve your clients? Technology is advancing at a breakneck pace for us, just as it is for most professionals, but we are constantly working to stay at the leading edge. To offer an example, less than five years ago • Clear scoping of the investigation; • Identification of needed internal and external resources – budget, staffing and equipment; • Evidence collection, management and retention protocols; • Regulatory stakeholder management and communication. As an added piece of advice for attorneys who may be called to the scene of catastrophic incidents, plan ahead and buy a good pair of safety footwear that properly fit your feet. We can almost always find the rest of any needed personal protective equipment such as hard hats, coveralls, and safety eyewear to loan to anyone needing to visit the scene, but finding footwear on short notice is a perennial problem. While that suit and those fashionable shoes look great at the office, they do not serve you very well at these incident scenes. At the very least your nice clothes will be ruined, and in the worst case you will suffer a preventable injury. A few years ago, I was responsible for managing a site inspection for attorneys and other experts at the scene of a large fire at a chemical plant. One of the 16 NOV 2021 WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM “ As an added piece of advice for attorneys who may be called to the scene of catastrophic incidents, plan ahead and buy a good pair of safety footwear that properly fit your feet.