CONTINUTING LEGAL EDUCATION FAQS

Frequently asked questions about our Continuing Legal Education courses:

1. What courses do you offer?

2. Are your courses accredited by the New York State CLE board?

3. Are your courses accredited in any other states?

4. Will you present your courses at our offices?

5. Do you present your sessions at bar associations and CLE institutes as well as at law firms?

6. What is unique about Integral's course offerings?

7. How long has Integral been giving these courses?

8. How do we find out more about the courses you offer?

1. What courses do you offer?

We offer three courses, all fully accredited by the New York State CLE Board.

"Estimating Economic Damages: The Value of Lost Earnings Streams" (2 credits)

"An Introduction to Statistical Testing in Employment Discrimination Cases" (3 credits)

"The Statistics of Compliance: The "Four Fifths Rule"and the "Two Standard Deviation Rule" (2 credits)

Each course focuses on a different set of practice-area skills. And each is taught by an expert economist and statistician with extensive courtroom experience.

"Estimating Economic Damages"is designed for attorneys whose practice areas require the presentation or refutation of lost-earnings estimates. It covers the basic concepts and techniques required to evaluate expert reports accurately and to depose or cross-examine the other side's expert. The course requires no background in mathematics or economics. It is taught in a practical case-study framework.

"An Introduction to Statistical Testing in Employment Discrimination Cases" has been designed for employment law attorneys with no background in mathematics or statistics. Our goal in this course is to provide participants with an insight into, and a comfort with, the basic statistical concepts underlying the tests for employment discrimination in use today. The material is taught on both an intuitive and a practical level. The language of instruction is plain, everyday English and all theoretical issues are presented in a case-study framework.

"The Statistics of Compliance" course has been designed for employment law attorneys who assist their corporate clients in meeting the reporting and affirmative-action requirements of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs ("OFCCP") and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC"). Aimed at in-house and outside defense counsel, it teaches participants how to use statistical testing in a preventative fashion, to minimize the risk of discrimination lawsuits. The course requires no background in mathematics or statistics. The material is taught in an intuitive way with all theoretical issues embedded in practical, case-study examples.

2. Are your courses accredited by the New York State CLE board?

Yes, they are. "An Introduction to Statistical Testing in Employment Discrimination Cases" carries three hours of general credit. It is a non-transitional course and is open only to experienced attorneys. "Estimating Economic Damages: The Value of Lost Earnings Streams" carries two hours of practice-area credit as does "The Statistics of Compliance: The "Four Fifths Rule"and the "Two Standard Deviation Rule". Both these courses are approved for transitional as well as non-transitional credit.

6. Does economics provide a systematic methodology for projecting future earnings or are the damage estimates we see in court mostly a question of one expert's opinion versus another's?

The future is uncertain. Economists do not have a crystal ball. That said, theoretical and empirical work by labor economists over the past forty years has contributed greatly to our understanding of how and why earnings grow over the life cycle. The theories and the estimation techniques that have been developed are a standard part of the curriculum at colleges and universities today and are widely known, widely accepted, and widely used outside academia as well. They generally provide the surest foundation upon which to build a credible damage estimate.

7. What information do you require to prepare a critique of plaintiff's expert report?

The amount of documentation we require depends on the nature of the critique we prepare. The plaintiff's report will usually include a description of the estimation methodology relied upon and - if our task is limited to a methodological critique - we require no further documentation to write it. Often, we can also determine on the basis of the report itself whether the expert has, in fact, carried out his or her calculations in the manner described in the text. To go beyond these first two levels of criticism, usually requires documentation of plaintiff's education, employment, salary and benefits history as well as similar data for other household members where relevant.

8. What information do you require to prepare an affirmative analysis?

To prepare an affirmative analysis, we require documentation - in the form of tax returns and personnel records - of plaintiff's past earnings-and-employment history. Information on his or her educational background and on any further training obtained once in the labor force is also very important. Similar information for other household members may be relevant.

9. How much time do you need to prepare a critique of plaintiff's expert report?

That depends on the amount of work to be done. A general methodological critique can usually be done within a week. Fully replicating the expert's analysis to confirm that the procedures described in the report are the ones actually used and that there are no calculation errors takes longer. Finally, the preparation of an affirmative estimate requires additional time.

10. How much time do you need to prepare an affirmative analysis?

In general, it is wise to allow us several weeks to do our work. Often the plaintiff has not yet obtained some of the documents we need. A credible projection of the plaintiff's future income usually requires substantial knowledge of his/her past education, employment and earnings experience. In some cases, a complete damage estimate requires this information for plaintiff's spouse and/or children as well. And often we must estimate the value of lost household production. However, if all of the necessary documentation is immediately available, we can usually complete the damage estimation in a week.

11. Does Integral Research Inc. employ full-time experts or are your experts mostly academics employed full time at a college or university?

Our expert economists and statisticians have taught labor economics and statistics at the graduate as well as the undergraduate levels. Our teaching commitments now are limited to Integral's Continuing Legal Education Program. Free of classroom or research commitments, we can accommodate your schedule rather than asking you to accommodate ours.

12. Do you ever prepare affirmative damage estimates for the defense side?

13. Does Integral Research Inc. employ full-time experts or are your experts mostly academics employed full time at a college or university?

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