Scott Steinberg · Consultant, Analyst and Business Strategist
HR disputes frequently turn on questions about the market rather than the law: what a role was worth, how quickly comparable work could be found, whether a restriction was reasonable in that sector, and what the industry treats as normal mobility. A consultant to 3000+ organizations, Scott Steinberg touches on these topics and more.
Expert reports, declarations, deposition and trial testimony on human resources, wrongful termination, workplace policy, discrimination, labor market conditions, role and compensation benchmarks, industry hiring practice, restrictive covenant norms, career impact and mitigation, etc.
Our expert witnesses and analysts cover a wide range of HR topics and issues relating to wrongful termination, discrimination, etc.
What the market looked like for a specific role, in a specific place, at a specific time is documented in postings, hiring volumes, compensation surveys and sector reporting.
Testimony assembles that record, which frequently differs sharply from either party's recollection of how easy or hard finding work would have been.
Establishing what a position was worth requires matching on the factors that actually move compensation: scope, sector, company stage, geography and the specific skills involved.
Testimony supplies benchmark evidence and addresses whether comparisons offered are genuinely comparable.
Sectors differ in how they recruit, what they screen for, how offers are structured and what candidates are customarily told during the process.
Testimony looks at recruitment convention in the relevant industry and how the process at issue compared.
Whether a restriction was reasonable in scope, duration and geography is partly a market question: what comparable agreements in that sector actually contained.
Testimony supplies that comparative evidence and addresses what the restriction would practically have meant for someone in that role.
Senior and highly specialized roles have thin markets where a handful of openings exist at any time and search cycles run long.
Testimony addresses market depth for the specific role and what a realistic search timeline looked like in that period.
Where a claim involves damage to a career, the question is what the realistic path was and how the event at issue changed it.
Testimony addresses typical progression in that field, the effect of a gap or a change in circumstances, and what the market evidence supports.
Mitigation arguments require evidence about what comparable roles were actually available, how long a search realistically takes and what a reasonable effort would have produced.
Testimony supplies those market inputs, which a damages expert then builds a calculation on.
Restructuring disputes involve how reductions are customarily planned, what selection processes organizations typically use and what notice and support practice looks like.
Testimony addresses convention for reductions of that scale in that sector, without opining on legal compliance.
Market evidence often has to be assembled from job postings, compensation data, industry sources and hiring records for the relevant period and location. Any party may instruct.
Written opinions on HR, wrongful termination, industry standards, market conditions, role benchmarks, etc.
Testimony on areas like what a role was worth and what the market for it actually looked like at the time.
Responsive analysis of benchmark selection, comparability assumptions and mitigation assertions.
Non-testifying market research, job market analysis and assessment of restriction reasonableness.
Scott Steinberg is an analyst, consultant and business trends expert with over 25 years of experience providing management and strategic consulting services to more than 3,000 businesses and brands ranging from startups to government agencies and Fortune 500 firms.
He has testified in sample areas including intellectual property — copyrights, trademarks and patents — patent infringement, marketing, branding, video games, mobile applications, consumer product development, and the growth and monetization of online distribution platforms.
He is the author of over 30 books and has published more than five thousand articles addressing areas including but not limited to marketing, technology, leadership, innovation, advertising, digital transformation, data privacy and social networks. He appears regularly on ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC, and has led seminars and training programs for organizations including Wells Fargo, the PGA Tour, Century 21, Ford, Dell and Procter & Gamble.
His consulting work has been broadly recognized. He has served as a thought leader for the American Bar Association and Corporate Counsel magazine, and has received honors from the International Association for Scholastic Excellence, Fortune, and the 21st Century Icon Awards, among others.
Human resources, discrimination, wrongful termination, labor market and industry practice: what a role was worth, what the market looked like, how the sector recruits, what restrictions comparable agreements contained, and what re-employment realistically required.
Workforce technology and systems: monitoring tools, automated screening, algorithmic scheduling and platform records. Compensation benchmarks, employee benefits, hiring conditions, covenant norms and re-employment prospects.
Generally through matching on what actually moves pay for that role: scope and reporting line, sector, company stage and size, geography, and the specific skills in demand. Benchmark evidence is only as good as the comparability, and testing an opposing expert's comparability assumptions is a frequent assignment.
Sample items that could be useful are posting volumes and requirements for the period, compensation survey data, sector hiring reporting, industry publications, and where available the party's own recruitment records. It is assembled evidence tied to a specific role, geography and window rather than general commentary.
Initial conversations about scope, timing and conflicts are without charge. Helpful detail includes the role, industry, geography and period at issue, plus any expert disclosure deadline already set.
A conflicts check is run before any substantive discussion. An initial note listing the party names and a one-line description of the dispute is enough to start; please hold privileged or confidential material until the check clears.