In this episode…

According to our guest, Mr. Somal, experts should take a proactive role in creating and fostering relationships with expert witnesses and attorneys. Relationships are foundational to lead generation, expertise maintenance, and a productive working environment. With a support network of peers, it is easier to navigate the inevitable obstacles even experienced experts encounter.

Check out the entire episode for our discussion on challenging depositions, collaboration, and lessons from Lincoln.

Note: Transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Host: Noah Bolmer, Round Table Group

Guest: Sameer Somal, CEO, Blue Ocean Global Technology, Girl Power Talk, and Girl Power USA

Noah Bolmer: Welcome to Discussions at the Round Table. I’m your host, Noah Bolmer, and I’m excited to welcome Sameer Somal to the show. Mr. Somal is the CEO of Blue Ocean Global Technology, an online reputation management firm. He is [a Co-Founder of] Girl Power Talk and Girl Power USA, which is a 501C3 nonprofit social enterprise dedicated to empowering women leaders in developing economies. Mr. Somal is a well-published author and expert in economic damages, intellectual property, and Internet defamation. He holds CFA, CFP, and CAIA certifications. Mr. Somal, thank you for joining me at the Round Table.

Sameer Somal: Thank you, it’s a pleasure and honor to be here and I’m looking forward to speaking on subjects of mutual interest.

Noah Bolmer: Absolutely. Well, let’s jump into it for nearly 20 years, you’ve been in finance, AI, nonprofits, and reputation management, just to name a few. How did you first get into expert witnessing?

Sameer Somal: It’s that Dr. Benjamin Franklin, aphorism, Noah, “diligence is the mother of good luck.” We founded Blue Ocean Global Technology, did a lot of work for PR firms doing technical work, and collaborated on campaigns. They referred us to law firms and the Am Law top firm Nixon Peabody approached me one day and said, “Sameer, we’ve interviewed four experts. You’re the fifth and we want you to be an expert witness in this case.” And I said, “What is an expert witness and why would I want to do that?” The folks at Nixon Peabody said, “You’re the perfect expert witness because you’re not what we call a professional expert witness. You run a company that has served hundreds of clients. You’ve worked with our law firm on sensitive situations and advised our team so we know you can provide value. You understand the nuances of digital advertising, online reputation management, technology development, and speak at events all over the world. You author CLE programs, and we know you’d be good in front of a judge and a jury. Why don’t you give it a shot?” And that was the point of no return. That seems like a lifetime ago.

Noah Bolmer: Speaking of that, how long ago was this, give or take?

Sameer Somal: It was about 8 years ago.

Noah Bolmer: You’ve been doing this for a hot minute. What things do you cover in those initial phone calls? What do you talk about in the vetting process?

Sameer Somal: Of course, you cover your background, and your process. Our process is to speak and connect with attorneys. Be relatable and share that we receive documents, review them, come back with questions and if there’s an expert report involved, which is more often not the case, then we come up with an outline. We’re collaborative and working with counsel to review that outline. I know that in every group of people, Noah, as you can attest to, everything’s the bell curve. I tell attorneys up front, “If you could wave a wand and make a new friend, a strategic partner, and find the perfect expert witness where we are collaborative, we’re thoughtful, we check pride and ego at the door because we want to get better, I and our team at Blue Ocean Global Technology tries to be that.” We ask for an overview of the case and clarity about how they specifically envision the expert’s role. Naturally, compensation is a subject of interest and then a disclosure of other opinions. What are some nuances concerning for the case? I discuss deadlines and any appropriate formats. I always try to address communication. Do they like email, do they like phone? I let them know this case will be a priority and how they can reach me. If I am not on an airplane, they can reach me on my mobile phone. Here’s our team that will be supporting me for this engagement.

Noah Bolmer: You often talk about teamwork; what are some of the elements of that teamwork that make a great relationship between the expert witness and the engaging party?

Sameer Somal: Using your ears and mouth, proportionately, which men struggle with relative to women. Of course, I’m making a generalization, but I think there’s some truth to it. You’re going to work with attorneys of all different types. Some are going to want to be hands off, laissez-faire. They’re going to say, do your work. Come back with the report. [The report looks good] and you barely interact with them. Others want to play Tom Brady and Bill Belichick and they want to manage every element of the process. They don’t want you talking to the client without them, and they don’t want you emailing them. You have to feel that out at the beginning and say, “What are the rules for engagement here? We’re flexible [about] working in a way that makes the most sense. But what I don’t want to do, Mrs., Ms., or Mr. Counsel is have to put the toothpaste back in the tube.” So understand that upfront. I’ve found that attorneys love that. They’re like, “Sameer, thank you so much.” I asked them what makes an awesome expert relationship and collaboration makes that. You look finely upon that in hindsight, and what did some of the experts do that you’d never called them again? I asked these questions as well.

Noah Bolmer: Did you have somebody show you the ropes in your first engagements? Did they tell you what to expect, or were you thrown in?

Sameer Somal: Expert witness work is analogous to entrepreneurship. It’s like jumping in and swimming across the Pacific Ocean. Each case and situation is idiosyncratic. I’ve had some awesome friends, other experts, and attorneys. One that comes to mind is a gentleman named William Choslovsky. He is with the firm Ginsburg Jacobs in Chicago. He’s been an incredible mentor and friend. After engaging us, we worked on several sensitive cases, I won’t mention which prominent entities because several of them are still going on. Billy, as our team likes to affectionately call him because we’ve built a personal relationship, has tried to help me in every way possible, not just in his cases, but to become a better professional and entrepreneur. I say you can learn something from everyone. When you take the time to earn mutual trust, respect, and friendship with counsel there’s a lot you can learn from them. Be humble, make it personal, and show the attorneys that you are someone that they’re happy to be involved with on this case. You’ll find that they will want to help you. Ask them for guidance. I always say, “Here is the way I’m thinking about it, Counsel, but I welcome your thoughts and perspectives. Maybe I have it completely wrong, but I know that our goal here is to make sure we have an optimal outcome.” I always say, “You’re the shepherd, I’m the proverbial sheep. This is your case, your Counsel. I’m here to hopefully contribute to where you want to go. In order to do that, I’ll take your advice, guidance, and mentorship seriously.”

Noah Bolmer: Have you spent a significant amount of time working on teams that include other expert witnesses?

Sameer Somal: Absolutely. On complex cases, I’m thinking of one case in particular involving intellectual property infringement and an e-commerce brand. Multiple experts were involved, and counsel had different ideas. Sometimes, counsel will want you to look at the other expert’s reports, and sometimes they don’t. They want you to sometimes substantiate. You’ve got to seek counsel’s guidance, but having an abundance mentality is something that I have and in everything that I do. If I’m going to work with other experts, I can learn from them, and probably build relationships with them. I found that when you foster relationships from the heart and mind, people never forget how you made them feel. I’ve forged friendships with opposition experts that I’ve gone against, and they’ve wanted to collaborate and refer cases my way. Of course, experts that I have been on the same side have been able to think of me positively and pass my name along, which has everything to do with that fun notion of reputation.

Noah Bolmer: I like the focus on relationships and building relationships not only with attorneys but also with expert witnesses because you learn from each other. What are some of the best ways that expert witnesses, and newer expert witnesses can get together with other expert witnesses and understand how they organize, strategize, and think about expert witnessing in general? Is that primarily through the workplace? Through meeting people in engagements? Do you get together somehow? How do you go about forming these sorts of bonds and relationships?

Sameer Somal: Be present. It doesn’t matter whether you’re sitting on the back bench of a courtroom next to another expert you’re in the hallway, or you take one of those classes. Our Director of Legal Research at Blue Ocean Global Technology, who’s also the Chief Legal Officer of Girl Power, Girl Power Talk, and my colleague and friend, Aashna Duggal. We had her participate in several different courses related to expert witness work. She’s also become an expert on our team. She fostered friendships and introduced several of those people to me. That’s resulted in new clients and business. You have to proactively pursue reaching out to people, and you have to come at it with what you’re looking to learn, you’re looking to see where there’s caught on the ground but have the agenda of “I want to understand where somebody has come from. Who they are today, and how can I be an asset in their life.” For instance, I can think about one case I did in North Carolina where there was a data forensics expert on the opposition side, and we started talking. Our team ended up interviewing him, Derek Ellington, and we featured him on Blue Ocean Global Technologies blog. He came back to me and said, “You know Sameer some people find that interview and that’s been a big, positive.” You have to find ways, and you go into it saying, “Look, how do I give without remembering and receive without forgetting?”  When you do that and stay persistent, and tactful in how you collaborate with others. I always say, “If you give me the opportunity, you’ll see over a little bit of time Sameer is somebody you want to keep around” and I probably bring up the proverbial average on all the people you have in your life.

Noah Bolmer: Let’s get into some of the nuts and bolts of expert witnessing. Tell me about your preparation techniques. You’re going into a deposition and you’re getting ready. What are the sorts of things that you like to do to make sure that you’re well prepared for either a deposition or even a cross-examination or a trial?

Sameer Somal: First, let’s clear the elephant in the room. Doing a deposition is like being pinned up against the wall with the attorney because it’s not a two-way street, although maybe I’ll tell you some stories about ways I’ve made it a two-way street, which is fun. I’d love to hear some stories about them. They are fun and entertaining, but anytime you’re going in, it is going to be a stressful and nerve-wracking situation when people like, for instance, I’m testifying in a trial next week in New Orleans and I was talking to a client earlier today, and she said, “Sameer, that must be so exciting. How- are you excited when you go in and testify in trial?” And I say, “I’m really excited when it’s over.” It’s like running a race, you can’t wait to get it- and of course, looking back favorably, I’ve been fortunate to benefit significantly as an entrepreneur because people say, “I’m thinking about hiring this guy, Sameer Somal, and his team at Blue Ocean for digital branding, or some custom dashboards, or even software development, and he testifies on these issues.” That is something important, so that level of reputation- I can think, I had one recent new client who watched a video testimonial from an attorney in California. That client and their counsel said, “Sameer we know you’re really good. I don’t know how you got a senior statesman in the legal industry who is in his mid-sixties to leave you a video testimonial about how good you are because attorneys are typically loathe to do that. He must like you, and you clearly did a good job and that was enough.”

How did they get to that point? For that particular case in Orange County, I over-prepared, and I always try to do that. You have to know your report. Everything falls back to your report when you’re oftentimes under cross-examination. If there are opposition reports, you have to know those too. Or, if they’re off-limits, you have to make sure that’s clear as well. Make sure you can always ask when being cross-examined to have someone point back to that. Anticipating potential points of weakness in your own case, where the avenues that they’re going to come back. It doesn’t matter how much the damages are that I quantify, I know it’s the opposition’s side to come back and say, “Why did you choose this? Why did you choose this particular variable on the impression model and the click-through rate?” I know that’s going to come, so how do I make sure a defensible conservative estimate is in play? You have a clear understanding of how your testimony fits into the case. What are the legal principles involved without giving any legal conclusions? In fact, that’s one of my favorite disclosures. You can, it’s just like you’re going into an exam, you have to prepare answers. There’s a big difference between anticipating what people are going to provide and simply reading over your report; I do mock cross-examinations with counsel, or with our own team. We now have fourteen international attorneys on staff, and I’ll have them prepare me and review previous testimonies and things that you’ve said. Again, go back to counsel and make sure that you ask them. Even for the case I’m doing next week, I’m preparing with counsel tomorrow and Saturday, and we’re potentially even meeting on Sunday when I get to New Orleans.

Noah Bolmer: Does some or all of it happen virtually?

Sameer Somal: Following COVID, a good portion of our work is virtual. Many times, counsel and clients want you to appear in person. I’ve done depositions and testimony because I often have a committed calendar. For instance, I was speaking at a Family Office Investor conference in Bogota, Colombia, but I also did a deposition on Monday of last week from Bogota. Remote is part of it. Those interpersonal connections are important, and you try to make sure you meet somewhere in the middle. I know that sometimes there are moving targets, and trials change. Oftentimes I have an international travel calendar that’s in place. I try to move things, and it’s a healthy balance of both as an expert, but make sure you’re not a diva about saying, “This is how I want things.”

Noah Bolmer: Are there any specific considerations when you appear online versus in-person or is it largely the same?

Sameer Somal: If you’re appearing online, it’s like a 2D versus a 3D, so your energy is going to be more important. You’re going to dress professionally regardless, but you have an opportunity to make up for the fact that you aren’t able to be there in person. For example, I can think of one particular case where my testimony, as it is oftentimes cited, as being critical for the outcome, which is the ultimate compliment. It was a jury trial, and I started by apologizing to the jury and saying, “I regret that I’m not able to appear in person. It was travel that had been earmarked for quite some time. I hope that you’ll accept my apology. I know that your time is valuable. Your service to our judicial system is something that is near and dear to my heart, and thank you for giving up your time, not that you may have much of a choice, but I want you to know that I respect that having served on a jury.” That’s how I began, and you could see the jury just warmed up to the person that I am because I showed my appreciation.

Noah Bolmer: It’s important to connect with the jury in that way. I’ve heard that from other expert witnesses as well. What other ways do you use, whether online or in person, to connect with the jury?

Sameer Somal: The jury are also people, so you have to remember that. When you acknowledge and have empathy for their situation- and also, many times, juries are made up of not as sophisticated of folks that are involved in the trial- if it’s in a company trial and you have CEOs and all those attorneys. I try to communicate effectively. Be educational. One of the ways I’ve differentiated myself and why I think I’m sought after in case work in a range of subjects- some other experts have asked me, “Sameer, how have you become an expert on so many different subjects?” I think that’s because I take an educational approach. I prepare so that if I’m speaking to a jury, I am able to take some of these complex concepts involving Internet defamation, Google analytics . . . They may not spend any time on social media. And how do you make that information relatable and digestible? When you say, “I hope everyone on the jury is following me, if not, I’m happy to rephrase what I just said because I think it’s an important point on this case as to why I’m here.” They lean into you and you’re able to look at the countenance. So, you speak to them. Be a little vulnerable about it. I’ve had cases where I said, “This case has become personal to me because it’s such an egregious example of the violations of our First Amendment and freedom of speech. We have laws where you can’t say anything about anyone for this very reason. I took on this case because for me it is about justice. It’s been very clear to me through my independent investigation that these particular points are the tipping point as to why I believe my report is accurate and valid.”

Noah Bolmer: Do you use visual aids to help convey some of that information to the jury?

Sameer Somal: I defer to counsel on that. A lot of times you’ll get asked visual aids by your own counsel. I think they can be helpful. Many times, our reports are so expansive, and you have different appendices that there are visuals. I think that when we create reports, we are putting in visual aids without a doubt. They can be helpful but collaborate with the attorneys to make sure of them- because many times, counsel will have a presentation, and they’ll have different elements they want to follow. So, depending upon the case, it may or may not make sense. As you well know, a picture is worth a thousand words, and they can certainly be impactful.

Noah Bolmer: Absolutely. You mentioned justice is that what’s important to you about being an expert witness? In general, what drives you to be an expert witness? In broader terms, what is important about the profession?

Sameer Somal: One, it’s serving as a voice for those who don’t have one. There- I’m in a fortunate position where I do turn down many cases, especially if I don’t feel it’s something I want on my own profile or I’m going to be able to represent because I don’t necessarily believe or see some obvious warning signs which we can cover as well. I love being an expert witness because of the learning curve, and you are able to meet and interact with attorneys and clients that you wouldn’t otherwise. Being a resourceful person, I’m proud of the fact that probably 75% of the attorneys and clients who hire our team to become their experts, end up working with us in other capacities with their law firms, companies, or individuals, or address some of the things that we’ve spoken about because that’s where our business- that’s how we became experts. It creates opportunities and also, you are challenged. I remember Richard Branson’s line, “When you receive an opportunity, sometimes you say yes and figure it out later.” As an expert, I can say there have been times I’ve taken on cases where I didn’t necessarily know how I was going to go about it, but I said, “You know what, I think I’ve got part of this, and counsel has confidence.” I’ve spent an extraordinary amount of time that I don’t bill for, getting up to speed and working so that I can best represent. Then those areas become focal points of expertise. I’m a stark contrast to many experts because they may have an academic background, and I don’t have an academic background, although I would say I’m a closet nerd and somebody who tries to go to bed a little bit smarter than when I woke up.

I’ll give you an example. In a landmark case that I was doing for one of the largest law firms in the world, DLA Piper. There was an opposing expert in this sensitive case, and so I was staying up all night preparing and helping for cross-examination for the other side, and they relied upon me. I built good relationships with some of their partners there, Melissa and Tamar. In this particular case, the opposing expert that I had done a rebuttal report was an academic, which is great, some of my best friends are academics, to be very clear. I’m a member of the Academy of Legal Business Studies but I don’t necessarily have the academic, my justification for being an expert is the practical experience. But this particular gentleman was almost personal in his expert report critique of me. So much so that counsel, the team at DLA, were not happy about it. They were like, “Sameer, he’s almost crossing the line here.” I reviewed and looked at it and ended up giving advice. It turns out that this gentleman was a consultant, and he did some work on the Internet. Then he became an academic. I empowered counsel with some questions, and I remember he was on the stand, and I think the lead counsel, Tamar, who heads intellectual property in the U.S. for DLA, she said to him, “When did you leave practice and become an academic?” I forget the exact dates, but I did the calculations, and when I looked at that it was two years before Google was founded. The case was about intellectual property infringement, e-commerce, etcetera. She walked him down and said, “Ok, so you’re providing testimony on this, but you left the field two years before Google was founded but you’re testifying on this?” Sorry for the long-winded answer that I-

Noah Bolmer: No, that’s great. I want to go back to one of the things you mentioned that stuck with me, that there are some red flags or warning signs you might have seen when deciding whether to accept an engagement. What are some of those things that you look for? What are the things that you think to yourself, maybe this isn’t the right engagement for me?

Sameer Somal: A couple of them are your inner heart and gut about the person that’s hiring you, especially the client. I can think of one particular case that I ended up dropping where I said, “I genuinely empathize and fear for you, which is why I want to take this case on. I’m going to be as reasonable as I can from a billing and fee perspective. And two things happened. One, this particular individual wanted full control over my report and would disagree with everything. The conversations were exhausting because she disagreed with everything that we’d say. I was like, who’s the expert here? From a compensation standpoint, she kept saying, “I’m really glad you want to do this report and are going to do it as reasonably as possible.” I sent a bill to her, and she said, “I’m having a meltdown about this. We need to put a rate- cap on it.” What I always tell clients and counsel is that I’m a damages expert, and I cover a lot of different ground on damages, agnostic of what case it is. In this case, I’m going to recommend 6, 7, or 8 figures of damages in order to defend against that, and in order for you to get an outcome, we’re going to have to put in a lot of work. It’s not, “Great, I have this expert witness case I’m going to be billing a lot.” It has to stand up in court and relates to how you ensure that you give the best possible chance for a settlement. She kept playing into the fact that- “You understand my case, and I’m glad you’re-” and then when it came time to pay, I ended up leaving that case and not receiving a dollar from it, and that’s okay. That was a lesson learned because I’d rather leave a case on good terms and say, “We have this pending balance that is owed and I’m leaving this case.” I’d rather chalk it up to me being a little smarter in that case. That’s one where it just didn’t feel right. It’s one thing to have anxiety or stress about a case because you want to do your best, it’s challenging, and you’re committed to it. It’s another thing to dread working with a client and a case. If you have the latter, that may be a warning sign that maybe you should do that one.

Noah Bolmer: When you talk about how it was a lesson learned, how do you go about setting those expectations before they become a problem? Do you take a retainer for instance, do you make sure that the billing is nailed down before you get started? How do you grapple with that?

Sameer Somal: In this case, it was clear and transparent. It just so happened that she started squirming because insurance was paying counsel. Our money had to come out of pocket and that’s OK. I typically do request a retainer, but in most situations, you’re dealing with a business, an individual of relative prominence, or a law firm. Sometimes in the engagement letters I send, I note that the payments come through the law firm so that I make sure there’s some accountability there. Typically, there are no issues with respect to payment and billing. You have to communicate and make sure you let people know. There have been situations where we haven’t communicated, and there has been a large bill at the end and a short deadline. You got busy and did not think about it. You try to be reasonable. I’ve had a number of cases where people have come back and said, “Can you work with me on this?” and I say, “I can.” I’ve had the vast majority of cases where people don’t flinch or think twice when we pass along invoices, and I think that’s a testament to people knowing you provided value and then being confident about it. In summary, you need to make sure that you measure twice, cut once and when you’re working with people that you feel good about and they like you, payment and billing aren’t an issue. Regardless of the type of business and industry, be it law, be it expert witness, be it a doctor, or a manufacturing company, you are always going to have clients and situations and people that don’t necessarily want to pay, and that’s why they have something called accounts receivable.

Noah Bolmer: Do you have any stories about cases that affect your approach to expert witnessing, change your thinking, or somehow inform your approach to some aspect of expert witnessing? What are the kind of seminal moments in your career?

Sameer Somal: I have to bring in one of my favorite subjects and passions, which happens to be the study and understanding of the life of Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln was a lawyer. I have an entire bookcase dedicated to him. He’s a personal hero of mine. I am a member of the Abraham Lincoln Association, and I’ve found ways to inculcate and integrate lines, lessons, aphorisms, yarns, and anecdotes of Mr. Lincoln into my life. I’m engaged to give private dinner engagements for clients or people who hire me where I tell Lincoln yarns for several hours, or the power goes out on a particular presentation, and I’ve got to find a way to keep the audience engaged. I’ve done that, and I think- before I comment on how I’ve expanded upon it, I can go back to one particular case where it was a contentious deposition. It was a 10 to 12-hour deposition; at least it felt that way, and it was against a rather prominent attorney who was reputable in Internet defamation. It was very contentious during the deposition, and he had researched everything about me. I mean, much respect. I knew it was going to be challenging, but I was like, “Wow.” He had gone into all the different case files of my existing cases. Knew when I was going to call, knew when a trial was and asked me about my work. And so, he methodically went through, I remember because I had prepared extensively with counsel. I remember at one point him saying to me, “I want to put on record-” because remember deposition is like you’re up against the wall, they shoot at you, and you don’t have any defense. He said, “I want to put on record that the witness is not answering my question.” I responded with, “I want to put on my record that Counsel maybe didn’t expect me to be as astute as I am and prepared. And maybe he should have prepared a little more and doesn’t like my answers and I can’t do anything about that. I am giving my answers appropriately.” There was a lot of back and forth, and it was adversarial, which is okay. At the end of that deposition, I said, “Joe, I just wish you were more like President Lincoln. Or Lincoln, the attorney.” The attorney did a double-take and looked at me. I said, “You know, Joe, when Mr. Lincoln knew his client was guilty, he actually couldn’t give 100 percent, which is a violation of the current ABA code, but you know your client is guilty but you’re a hired gun and you’re giving 1,000 percent. I wish you wouldn’t, but hey that’s-” I think counsel on our side had to go off video and he encouraged me. I have an article that’s been submitted to the American Bar Association about Lincoln’s ethics, that whole situation. But the long-winded point there is that I’ve found ways to be relatable because of my relentless study of Mr. Lincoln and have been on the stand giving analogies that relate to Mr. Lincoln. I think that has become a competitive advantage. I’ve been engaged by opposition counsel who came back to me and said, “Sameer, you did this case two years ago, and I remember you were so good. I remember going back and saying, ‘Man, I wish our expert was as good as you are.’ Now here I am. I got this case, and you’re the first person I thought of. I thought it might be inappropriate or a little bit strange to call you, but I do like Lincoln. I got Lincoln in my office, like, let’s talk about it.” Anyway, that’s where Mr. Lincoln has been a part of my persona and identity. Probably not the worst person to be associated with so I work hard for it.

Noah Bolmer: Absolutely. Before we wrap up, do you have any last advice or words of wisdom for expert witnesses, particularly newer experts?

Sameer Somal: One is those who say they can, and those who say they [can’t], are both usually right. Give it your best. Know that every person, every company, every country started from nothing. People oftentimes- I’m asked by another new case, the first thing they said was, “We’re going with you, but Sameer, before we get started today, can you walk me through how you became-” because they’ve looked at my case history and said, “You’re an expert witness in financial related cases. I saw one regarding wealth management. You’ve done intellectual property. You’ve done technology source code. You testified against Meta in arbitration. You’re across the board. How did you expand the discipline of expert work, and how have you been admitted every time? What are some of the ways that you’ve gone about it?” I don’t need to go into my response, but the point is that if “Sameer, who doesn’t necessarily have a technology background, is considered one of the most prominent and reputable Internet defamation expert witnesses”, I think it’s plausible for you. Be flexible. Don’t go in with a rigid mindset. What this attorney and counsel may want to do is completely different from the others. Be malleable, be flexible, and proactively follow up. I was on another case involving a prominent gentleman in politics and I’ve followed up with the attorney every week for four weeks because we’d sent them the draft report. The Counsel in Virginia said, “Sameer, the only reason I haven’t responded is that the client hasn’t been there, but your follow-up is awesome.” Communicate and pick up the phone. I pick up the phone and call an attorney, I leave a message and let him hear my voice. Let them know that I’m thinking about them. Don’t hide behind e-mail. Don’t pretend that. “Okay, I sent the e-mail. Now my work is done.” I’ve been engaged again and again because they say, “Sameer, there’s nobody that follow-ups as thoughtfully and patiently.” It’s kept me on track on the case and that becomes my reputation and why people want to work with me.

Noah Bolmer: Mr. Somal, sage advice. Thank you for joining me today at the Round Table.

Sameer Somal: Thank you. It’s a pleasure. I appreciate the opportunity to share [my] perspective. If one or two people from the Round Table community or the aggregate population can leave here with a little more context and knowledge to make more informed decisions and become better experts, I think you and I can consider today a big win.

Noah Bolmer: Absolutely and thank you to our listeners for joining us for another discussion at the Round Table. Cheers.

Sameer Somal, CFA, CFP®, CAIA, CEO, Blue Ocean Global Technology · Co-Founder, Girl Power Talk

Mr. Sameer Somal, is the CEO of Blue Ocean Global Technology, an online reputation management firm, and Girl Power Talk and Girl Power USA, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit social enterprise dedicated to empowering women leaders in developing economies. He is a published author and expert in economic damages, IP, and Internet defamation. Mr. Somal holds CPA, CFP, and CAIA certifications.