Most expert engagements lose time in the first month, not the last. The expert can't scope the work without seeing the shape of the records, and records that turn out to be missing take weeks to obtain by subpoena. A complete first-week package is the cheapest schedule insurance there is.
The package
- Pleadings and the damages theory. The complaint, answer, and counterclaims, plus a short note on which damages categories counsel currently sees in play. The theory will evolve; the expert needs the starting point.
- Financial records, described before they are sent. Which entities, which years, which formats. General ledger exports, tax returns, financial statements, bank statements, and, in contract matters, the contract, change orders, and job cost reports. Native exports beat PDFs; PDFs beat scans.
- Prior expert reports and discovery responses. Including the opposing side's. Interrogatory answers on damages often reveal the other side's model before their expert does.
- The calendar. Expert disclosure dates, deposition windows, mediation dates, and the trial date. Staffing and sequencing follow from these.
- Protective orders and confidentiality terms. The expert needs to know what can be reviewed, where, and by whom before the first file is opened.
What to hold back
Internal strategy memos and mental-impression material can wait until counsel has decided whether the expert will consult or testify, because that decision affects what may later be discoverable. Sending facts, data, and records is rarely the problem. Sending the litigation plan can be. See structuring the engagement from day one.
What comes back
Within the first week, counsel should receive a short scoping memo: the questions the expert proposes to answer, the records needed to answer them, the gaps already visible, and a timeline against the calendar. That memo is the first deliverable, and it is the one that prevents surprises later.