Dr. Ronald B. Standler

Consulting Services to Attorneys on
Scientific Evidence in Torts Involving Technology

Consulting Services Personal Experience Consulting Fees & Terms How to contact Dr. Standler

brief credentials:

Ph.D. in physics 1977, J.D. 1998,
professor of electrical engineering for ten years,
programmed computers since 1968 (mostly numerical models of physical phenomena, automatic collection of data from scientific instruments, statistical analysis of data, and design of numerical algorithms),
research on lightning and atmospheric electricity in thunderstorms 1971-1979,
designed electronic circuits and instrumentation 1973-1989,
research on electrical surge suppressors and arresters 1982-1993,
wrote more than 35 archival technical papers and one book,
consulted to litigators since 1981, and
attorney in Massachusetts, and also licensed to practice before:
- the U.S. Patent Office,
- the Federal District Court in Massachusetts,
- the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and
- the U.S. Supreme Court.

My c.v.

Consulting Services

I offer assistance to attorneys in areas where science, engineering, and technology collide with law.

1. consulting on scientific and engineering issues in law

framing of scientific and engineering issues in context of law
role of engineering standards for safety or performance in establishing duty of care in torts
evaluation of discovery materials: documents, deposition transcript, expert's report, etc. —
I have the ability to find contradictions separated by hundreds of pages of paper. My knowledge and experience in science and engineering give me an advantage in finding other ways to attack expert witnesses.
drafting deposition questions to ask expert witnesses —
My knowledge of science and engineering enables me to select exactly the right technical word, in order to extract useful information from hostile expert witnesses or from an opposing party who is an engineer or scientist.
finding expert witnesses directly (i.e., without paying overhead to marketing services)
science, technology, and public policy issues

2. legal research

Information on my services and credentials in finding information in law (e.g., cases, statutes, regulations) and also finding technical information in science, engineering, and medicine is contained in my separate webpage.

In addition to my use of material in online databases and libraries, I have:

photocopies of more than 1000 archival papers on electrical surges and lightning,
photocopies of more than 640 U.S. Patents on electrical surge-protective devices and lightning warning systems, and
catalogs of components for electrical surge protection since the early 1970s.

Personal Experience

I have worked between 60 and 80 hours/week continuously since 1967, simply because I found my work challenging, significant, and enjoyable. I earned a Ph.D. in physics in 1977, was a professor of electrical engineering for 10 years, and have programmed computers since 1968. This experience gives me insight into a number of areas of law, such as products liability, injury by lightning, damage by electrical surges, and the law of meteorology.

As a professor, I gave more than one thousand lectures in rooms with 30 to 70 students, I have presented many papers at scientific or engineering symposia, and I have been chairman of several groups in development of international engineering standards. All of these experiences have taught me to be an effective public speaker and lead productive meetings. These are useful skills for an attorney.

As shown in detail at the end of my c.v., I have written one book (434 pp.) and more than 35 archival scholarly papers, each of which communicates new knowledge that I discovered. I learned long ago to create a paper trail that clearly documents my work and informs my client of progress and options for decisions. Unlike many scientists and unlike most engineers, I enjoy writing. Like most professors, I take pleasure from explaining something clearly.

I can be effective at rapidly uncovering technical information that is useful in litigation, even when it is outside of the area of my professional experience. For example, I was consulted by an attorney in 1981 as an expert witness on the effect of radio transmitters on the accuracy of breath-alcohol meters. I was not able to demonstrate any such effect during my experiments, so I spent one afternoon searching the chemical and medical literature. I found that the relationship between concentrations of alcohol in breath and blood is highly variable; the meter was calibrated according to an average person. Therefore, measurement of breath alcohol is worthless as evidence of an individual's blood alcohol concentration, which was the criterion in statute. Impeachment of breath-alcohol data is not remarkable now, but it was remarkable in 1981, when I did it. Please understand that I am not interested in drunk driving cases, I simply mention it as an example of what I could do long before I enrolled in law school.

One of my major interests in law is the solution of problems created by computer technology, such as intellectual property protection of software and privacy issues involving computer databases. My own computer experience began in 1968, when I taught myself to program a computer. I have personally owned eleven different desktop computers since 1981, which I used or use in my daily professional work. Using software that I wrote myself, I have used computers to predict behavior of physical phenomena from theoretical models, to acquire and to analyze data from laboratory instruments, and to prepare graphs for scientific publications. My familiarity with programming and applications of computers gives me a detailed insight into possible uses and abuses of computer technology, which create new legal problems, as well as a strong ability to communicate with future clients who may be manufacturers or users of computer hardware or software. Further, I believe that computers are the principal tool of the future, in order to benefit from large amounts of available information, so my past experience with computers gives me an important advantage over most other professionals.

In law school during 1995-1998, I focused on reading scholarly, authoritative sources, instead of condensed cases and so-called "study aids". During my first year of law school, I purchased and read the Restatements (Second) of Torts and Contracts from cover to cover. During my last two years of law school, I downloaded more than 75 megabytes of cases in my areas of interest, annotated them, and arranged them chronologically in WordPerfect documents by topics. My intent was to understand many different areas of law in which I wished to practice or consult, so I could both (1) make my own synthesis of general principles in law in areas of interest to me, (2) see the chronological development of law for new technologies, and (3) "hit the ground with my feet running" in my future work.

Since graduating from law school, I have continued to assign myself intellectual "finger exercises" in legal research and analysis. You can see my intense interest, enthusiasm, and scholarly approach to law in the more than 97 essays at my websites.

Specific areas of law that interest me include: torts, technology law, academic issues in higher-education law, and copyright law. See my separate list of topics in torts that especially interest me.

Consulting Terms

My consulting fees and terms are posted on the Internet in a separate document.

low initial cost, no long-term obligation
By hiring me as a consultant, you need to provide me with neither floor space, equipment, furniture, secretary, nor health insurance. You do not need to find between 2000 to 3000 hours/year of work for me. Nevertheless, I am available whenever you need me, including nights, weekends, and holidays. I am available to travel on short notice.

Contact:

How to contact Dr. Standler.

Copyright Ronald B. Standler
This document is at http://www.rbs2.com/job.htm
first posted 5 Jan 1997, revised 15 Sep 2013

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