By Niles Christodoulidis · Cannabis Consult Pro
A useful first inquiry does not require a complete case file. The goal is to establish whether the subject fits the expert’s experience, whether there are conflicts, and whether the required work can fit the deadline.
1. Send a short, general inquiry
- Your contact information: name, law firm, email, and preferred way to follow up.
- The technical issue: describe the cannabis process, product, storage conditions, handling, or distribution practice at issue in a few sentences.
- Jurisdiction and timing: identify the jurisdiction and any known report, deposition, hearing, or trial deadlines. Distinguish a firm deadline from a preferred completion date.
- The assistance sought: an initial technical review, a written analysis, a site visit, or potential testimony.
Use the website form for a general description only. Do not send confidential case details or documents through it. Party names and other information needed for a conflict review, followed by substantive records, can be requested separately using an agreed method.
2. Frame the question the records need to answer
Specific questions make it easier to identify relevant experience and estimate the work. For example:
- What do the available records show about how the cannabis was stored and handled?
- Which processing conditions were documented, and which important facts are missing?
- Do the records support a proposed comparison of processing yields or operating performance?
Separate observations from assumptions and identify the source of each. An initial review may reveal that additional information is needed before an opinion can be formed.
3. Organize relevant records after the initial review of fit and conflicts
Not every matter needs every item. Start with a brief document index and identify the batches, dates, facilities, or events relevant to the question.
- Processing records: batch logs, recorded inputs and outputs, process conditions, and contemporaneous production notes.
- Testing records: certificates of analysis, sample identifiers, sampling dates, and information linking results to the material being discussed.
- Storage and handling records: inventory and transfer records, packaging information, available environmental records, photographs, and dates.
- Operating procedures and equipment: the SOP versions in effect at the relevant time, equipment specifications, and pertinent maintenance or operating logs.
- Timeline and supporting material: a dated sequence of relevant events and a list of records that are unavailable, incomplete, or disputed.
Keep original files and labels intact. Identify excerpts, annotations, and later reconstructions so they can be distinguished from contemporaneous records. Agree on the document-transfer method before sending substantive materials.
4. Agree on the assignment before work begins
The proposed engagement should identify the technical questions, records to review, deliverables, deadlines, and any site visits or testimony requirements. Record volume, complexity, scheduling, and travel affect the scope and fees.
Availability and fees are confirmed before work begins. An engagement does not promise a particular opinion, litigation outcome, or acceptance of testimony.
Discuss your matter with Niles
Niles’s trial experience includes cannabis processing and distribution, and cannabis storage, handling, and the adverse consequences of mistreatment. Review his expert witness services and trial experience.
Send a brief overview and the relevant deadline to begin a discussion of fit, conflicts, and scope.