Sean Moran's Blog, page 5

New Website and Email: Bounce message from sean.moran@expertise-limited.co.uk

I am in the process of winding up Expertise Limited. Consequently www.expertise-limited.co.uk, and associated emails like sean.moran@expertise-limited.co.uk now no longer work. I have b Ceen working through all people and organisations who use my old email addresses since the turn of the year, but it is possible that there are still places on the internet with my old details. I'll work my way through these too, but in the meantime, you can get me at seansonofbig@gmail.com. 

I'll probably need to set up a website for my new company (Independent Expert Engineer Limited) in due course. LinkedIn provides a steady supply of new clients, and I have long-standing repeat business clients, but it doesn't seem to do too well on Google. The front page for the kind of search terms people use to find me is dominated by the companies who act as intermediaries for experts.

Why am I shuttering Expertise Limited? In a word, Insurance. Though I don't do much of it nowadays, I used to do a lot of detailed design, commissioning and hands on troubleshooting on plants which could have created a major pollution incident if I go things wrong. Insuring these historical losses makes insurance companies very nervous. I usually only found a single company willing to quote, and the premiums were burdensome for a one man business. A fresh start with Independent Expert Engineer Limited gave me yearly insurance premiums a small fraction of my old monthly ones. 

I don't like to carry a lot of overhead, and people want to employ me, rather than Expertise Limited as such. I have already seen that they are just as happy to hire Independent Expert Engineer Limited as Expertise Limited.

Expertise Limited Website

We have decided to allow the https://www.expertise-limited.co.uk/ website to lapse. A new website will be coming soon.

Picking Up

 All of a sudden, a rash of new enquiries have come in. I have been quite busy...

Still Quiet

 Things are still quiet with Expertise Limited, though I have a few other things on. I thought I'd post anyway, as the blog is attracting attention from blog post spammers....

Merry Xmas From All At Expertise Limited

It's been a quiet end to the year. The update of Process Plant Layout isn't going to happen, as the publisher was unwilling to proceed on the original terms, and sought to add many unreasonable new ones. As they were the ones who wanted me to update the book, this is more of a problem for them than me. The book still sells well, has no errors I am aware of, and has no real need of an update. 

Expertise Limited has had a quiet year, but I have had a few health issues which has meant that this has been quite welcome. I'm hoping to get back on my feet (quite literally!) in the New Year, and to have a busier 2024, in between rehab and new work. 

Here's hoping that 2024 will be better than 2023 for all of us. It was a year so bad that by the end of it, about half of people said that they no longer liked to hear the News.

  

Expert Witness Training

I'm attending a course on excellence in written evidence (expert report writing) today. I've been on a few before, but it's good to keep current.

Expert Witness Water Engineer

I've finally got around to starting an update of my website. I've done many expert witness engagements since I last updated it, as you can see here. 

Expert Witness Water

All of the expert witness and insurance investigation reports I have been engaged to produce are issued-a rare opportunity for a holiday. I'll be back to it next Tuesday.

I won't be going abroad. Flying hasn't been compatible with a restful break since the pandemic. I do a fair amount of it for work purposes, as maybe 50% of my expert witness and insurance investigation engagements are overseas. Even in business class air travel is all work, rather than having a bit of downtime included.

Negotiations continue with respect to the plant layout book. The lawyers in publishing firms seem determined to engage authors under terms which simultaneously represent the worst parts of being an employee, and the worst parts of being a freelance nowadays. 

I find it hard to believe that any individual who read these terms would sign them, but most authors of academic textbooks are employees of a large, well insured intermediary, and care only about the kudos of authorship. Personally Id like to make some money out of the deal, and not get sued. Call me fussy.

Expert Witness Insurance Claims Investigation Commercial Dispute Water

I'm talking to someone this afternoon about a new bit of overseas expert witness work to do with an insurance claim. 

I have quite a few of these where I'm waiting for a response to my report. Things tend to move very slowly with insurance work.

I also have a bit of proper expert witness work on to do with a commercial dispute. 

I'm busy enough for now, and I can guarantee that when the wait is over, several of these jobs will come in at the same time, with a short timescale for replies....

 

Back to Work

After a nice little lull, it's back in the saddle for me. One of those expert witness engagements has come through. Just as the sun came out, too!

The very final negotiations appear to be over with respect to the third edition of my layout book. They were extraordinarily protracted, largely because of those culture wars you might have heard about. You may believe that they do not exist, but my publisher's lawyers certainly seem to believe in them. Signing a contract to write a book without signing away your rights to free speech in everyday life at the same time has proven extraordinarily difficult.