Site Shows That No Topic Is Too Sticky for Web
The Internet offers computer users access to the sublime--see the Toshiba Philharmonic item below--as well as the mercenary.
In the latter category, a Tustin Web site that design company Vandelay Industries has created has an Internet directory for those pillars of the judicial system: expert witnesses. The site lists the names and phone numbers of witnesses willing to offer their expert testimony in court on almost any topic, as long as the price is right.
Most lawyers already have published directories of such witnesses, but this Web version will be continually updated, and enables attorneys to bypass brokers who charge finder fees, said Sean Strauss, co-owner of Vandelay.
The directory is just a few weeks old, and only 15 witnesses have signed up so far, but the site’s creators hope that before long, there will be hordes of witnesses lining up to be listed as experts in such intriguing categories as Power Tools/Chainsaws, Garage Doors and the always popular DNA Forensic.
“There are experts in every field,” said Strauss, acknowledging he finds the breadth of expertise a bit bewildering. “When a runaway golf cart runs somebody over, I guess you need an expert on the brake system.” (Indeed, Golf Cart is another category.)
Strauss and Vandelay co-founder Ian Wynne were employees in the marketing department at Rockwell International Corp. last year when they were asked to design a Web site for the company’s semiconductor division. The two enjoyed the work so much they left Rockwell to launch Vandelay.
They got the company name from an episode of the television sitcom “Seinfeld” in which the shiftless character George applies for unemployment benefits and is grilled for details about his recent job-seeking efforts. Pressured to name a company he’d visited, George makes one up, blurting out “Vandelay Industries.”
Strauss and Wynne seized on the name, even though it doesn’t have much of a high-tech ring to it. Their corporate logo includes a picture of a factory spewing binary digits--1s and 0s--from its smokestacks.
Vandelay has designed Web sites for a number of local companies, including radio station KBIG-FM (104). But Strauss and Wynne, two lifelong Orange County residents and avid surfers, say their favorite creation is the recently launched Surfer Magazine site.
Still, in the hypercompetitive arena of Internet design, even surf dudes like Strauss and Wynne couldn’t afford to bypass the Expert Witness idea, which was hatched by the company’s bookkeeper.
“For every client we work with, we think about the ethical questions,” Strauss said. “Attorneys are going to contact the experts anyway. I don’t think we’re contributing to the society as a whole being more litigious.”
Vandelay doesn’t vouch for the credibility of the expert witnesses in its directory, but it does charge them $25 per month.
The Expert Witness site can be viewed at https://www.expertwitness.com and Surfer Magazine at https://www.surfmag.com.
* Greg Miller covers high technology for The Times. He can be reached at (714) 966-7830 and at greg.miller@latimes.com.
