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Russ W. Rosenzweig: Pioneer in Expert Witness Connections

Was he born several centuries too late, or destined to be the harbinger of a new age of chivalry?

Russ Rosenzweig might jest at the comparison, but it’s not far-fetched. A self-professed lover of history, captivated by stories of knights and honor, Rosenzweig is something of a paradox: part scholar, part capitalist, equal parts idealist and realist. The founder and CEO of the groundbreaking expert witness referral firm Round Table Group, he is a rare figure in the business world—visionary and pragmatic, cerebral yet commercially savvy, and deeply loyal to the mentors who inspired him. His mission was never just about business. It was, and remains, about service—to scholars, to attorneys, and to justice itself.

At a time when attorneys had few resources beyond their own Rolodex to locate, screen, and secure qualified expert witnesses, Rosenzweig and his college friends devised a company that would transform the legal landscape. In doing so, they gave professors a chance to expand their influence (and their incomes), while providing litigators with something of a holy grail: truly qualified, battle-tested experts.

That company became Round Table Group. And that mission? It became a movement.

ATTORNEYS NEEDED A BETTER WAY. AND SCHOLARS NEEDED SOMEONE TO BRIDGE THE GAP. WE BECAME THAT BRIDGE.”

Russ W. Rosenzweig

Origins in Academia

The idea was sparked not in a boardroom but in a lecture hall—specifically, a History of England class taught by the late Professor Lacey Baldwin Smith at Northwestern University.

“It was the ‘Age of Chivalry’ lecture,” Rosenzweig remembers. “The professor was saying something like, ‘…deeds full actual. That is the code of the chivalrous knight.’ All my anxieties fled me. Now that I had a business idea and a purpose for my life, I became emboldened and excited.”

That business idea wasn’t fully formed yet. But Rosenzweig had a vision: to merge the lofty world of academia with the practical demands of litigation. To elevate both the scholars he admired and the attorneys who needed their expertise. And crucially, to do so with dignity, integrity, and—yes—honor.

At the time, the disconnect was glaring. He saw professors—many among the brightest minds of their generation—subsisting on modest salaries, largely disconnected from the financial world beyond campus. “Although I didn’t plan on a career as a professor, I still operated on this false belief that academic success equals economic success,” Rosenzweig says. “Then, I had this life-altering realization in the Northwestern Library that my career could be about helping scholars with their commercial endeavors.”

The Dorm Room Startup

Russ W. Rosenzweig
Rosenzweig with the co-founders of The Round Table Group.

Much ado is made of college students launching tech giants from their dorm rooms. Mark Zuckerberg, of course, dominates that story. But long before Facebook, there was Round Table Group—born in a similar crucible of youthful brilliance, late nights, and an entrepreneurial itch.

“We recruited a lot of experts early on,” Rosenzweig says. “We just didn’t have any clients. For almost four years.”

In the absence of revenue, the partners took day jobs. Nights and weekends were devoted to building the company—recruiting scholars, refining outreach, perfecting the pitch. “We believed in it. We had to. Because there was no money coming in,” he laughs. “But we were obsessed.”

Their breakthrough didn’t come through luck. It came through persistence—and a realization that they weren’t selling a commodity; they were offering something transformational. When that first client came through, it was not just a victory—it was validation. The Round Table model worked.

Building the Industry

What began as an inspired student-led initiative evolved into a multimillion-dollar company with real national influence. Round Table Group didn’t just find experts—they institutionalized the process. They applied rigorous analysis to the process. The company’s clients came to rely on them not as a luxury, but as a necessity.

“Attorneys needed a better way,” Rosenzweig explains. “And scholars needed someone to bridge the gap. We became that bridge.”

By systematizing expert selection—focusing on relevancy and credibility—Round Table Group made itself indispensable to law firms across the country. And in doing so, the company shaped the very structure of the expert witness industry.

The firm was also early to the internet. “We were fortunate to be born at a moment when the web was taking off,” Rosenzweig says. “That gave us visibility and credibility we never could have afforded through traditional means.”

Over the years, the company expanded its reach, providing expert witness referrals to every one of the AmLaw 100 firms, thousands of boutique litigation shops, and everything in between.

In 2010, Round Table Group was acquired by Thomson Reuters—a fitting home for a company built on information, access, and trust.

Under Rosenzweig’s leadership, Round Table Group achieved what few startups ever do: sustained national recognition and consistent growth. The company earned a place on the prestigious Inc. Magazine 500/5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America an unprecedented six times. Its groundbreaking model and influence on the legal industry drew widespread media attention, with profiles in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Fortune Magazine. The company’s unique approach was also studied in depth by Stanford University—not once, but in five separate business case studies.

Russ W. Rosenzweig feature

The Code of the Modern Knight

Rosenzweig’s fascination with the chivalric code is more than symbolic. He strives to live it.

Fidelity, prowess, generosity, courage, courtesy, honor. These medieval ideals form a kind of personal manifesto—one that has guided not only his business dealings but his relationships with friends, colleagues, and scholars.

“We believed—and still believe—that the expert witness relationship is sacred,” he says. “It’s not transactional. It’s a partnership in the pursuit of truth.”

This attitude has helped Rosen-zweig cultivate long-term relationships with both attorneys and experts. Many of the company’s earliest experts are still active today—grateful for the opportunity and the respect they were shown from day one.

But perhaps the greatest expression of his ethos lies not in how he built Round Table Group, but in how he gave credit to those around him—his professors, his co-founders, his clients.

In every telling of the Round Table story, Rosenzweig casts himself not as the king, but as the squire—learning, facilitating, assisting. Even now, decades in, he continues to see the company’s role as one of service.

The Drive Within

Inspiration for this highly innovative company may have come from an almost ethereal lecture in a Northwestern University classroom, but the motivation to strive, succeed, and thrive came from much closer to home—and at a much younger age.

As the youngest of three brothers growing up in suburban New Jersey, Rosenzweig learned early what it meant to chase excellence. His older siblings, Andy and Lance, were academic powerhouses, seemingly destined for greatness from the start. For young Russ, their achievements became both a challenge and a beacon.

“Andy is six years older and Lance eight,” he says. “They were both very smart, ambitious, always at the top of their class. Somehow, I didn’t seem to be born with those gifts and talents, but they really inspired me.”

He recalls the mystique of their academic world—thick novels by famous authors for AP English, the sleek click of Hewlett-Packard calculators, and cryptic chemistry textbooks that looked like they belonged in a NASA lab.

“When they went to college and left me home alone with the parents, they would reach out and regale me with stories about amazing classes,” he says. “I’d sometimes visit and even sit in on a lecture. Then, when I was around 15, I had this realization that if I could do well in Honors classes, I might make my way out of New Jersey like my brothers.”

Rosenzweig, an avid clarinetist with two of his clarinet heroes Todd Levy (left) of The Milwaukee Symphony and Stephen Williamson (right) of The Chicago Symphony

That moment of adolescent epiphany crystallized into what Rosenzweig now calls a “false narrative”—a linear, almost transactional belief in success as a formula: Good grades in Honors classes = college = good job = rags to riches.

He laughs now at how earnestly he embraced it. “It was my belief in this formula that led me to embark so vigorously on this multi-disciplinary path—reading all the great books, excelling at math, mastering the sciences. It was all economically driven.”

He’s quick, as always, to downplay his natural talents. “It was kind of accidental that I achieved so much,” he says with characteristic humility. “I didn’t think I was particularly smart—my classmates were the brilliant ones so I just worked extra hard and followed a system.”

That self-effacing tone masks an intense inner fire. His pursuit of excellence—initially fueled by a desire to keep pace with his high-achieving brothers—would become a lifelong habit. It pushed him through a demanding academic career, emboldened him to launch a company without funding or clients, and later, to pioneer an entire industry.

But with time and maturity, Rosenzweig came to see this early striving in a new light.

“Naturally, I’m thrilled that I embraced all those disciplines,” he says. “But today, I do it for love and pure enjoyment.”

What began as competition and emulation transformed into something far deeper—a genuine reverence for knowledge, for learning, for ideas. That reverence still permeates everything he touches, from the pages of The Scholars’ Treasure to the ethos at the heart of Round Table Group.

The Scholars’ Treasure

Having built an industry, Rosen-
zweig could have quietly stepped back. Instead, he wrote the book on it—literally.

Published in 2025, The Scholars’ Treasure: The Secret Origins of the Expert Witness Industry reads as part memoir, part historical account, part philosophical treatise. It’s Rosenzweig at his most reflective, tracing the origin story of Round Table Group with humor, humility, and a fair share of knightly metaphor.

But it’s also an important contribution to legal scholarship. For attorneys, the book offers a fascinating inside look at how expert witnesses are sourced, what makes them persuasive, and how the relationship between law and knowledge has evolved over time. For academics, it offers a road map to financial viability without compromising intellectual integrity.

“The book is a love letter to professors,” Rosenzweig says. “And also a kind of guidebook for how they can navigate the legal world with purpose and profit.”

Critics have praised The Scholars’ Treasure for its originality and insight. Legal publications have called it “essential reading” for litigators. Professors have called it “unexpectedly poetic.” Rosenzweig simply calls it “a thank-you note.”

WE BELIEVED—AND STILL BELIEVE—THAT THE EXPERT WITNESS RELATIONSHIP IS SACRED. IT’S NOT TRANSACTIONAL. IT’S A PARTNERSHIP IN THE PURSUIT OF TRUTH.”

A Legacy Still Unfolding

Today, over 30 years after its founding, Round Table Group remains a force in the legal world. Its mission has expanded, its reach widened. But at its core, it is still the same: a company devoted to bridging law and scholarship with honor and precision.

And Russ Rosenzweig? He’s still at it—growing Round Table Group, innovating and acquiring within the expert witness industry, mentoring new founders, advising experts, writing, speaking, and dreaming up new ventures.

He serves on multiple boards, participates in philanthropic initiatives, and has become a sought-after voice on entrepreneurship, innovation, and the future of litigation.

Asked if he feels fulfilled, he pauses.

“I think I’m still on the quest,” he says with a grin. “There’s always a new dragon to slay, a new idea to explore.”

Indeed, the modern knight rides on.

A Model for Mission-Driven Enterprise

In a world that often pits profit against principle, Rosenzweig offers a compelling counter-narrative. One where entrepreneurship is not only compatible with idealism—it’s fueled by it. Where success isn’t measured only in revenue, but in relationships, purpose, and the elevation of others.

Through Round Table Group, Rosenzweig didn’t just change the way attorneys find expert witnesses. He created a new path for professors, a new tool for litigators, and a new vision for what a mission-driven business can look like.

In the process, he may have just redefined what it means to be a modern-day knight.

“Beyond running the day-to-day operations of Round Table Group, I’ve always felt called to share what I’ve learned,” says Rosenzweig. “I’ve had the privilege of working closely with entrepreneurs, academics, and attorneys—as a speaker, educator, and even philanthropist. Through my work with the Entrepreneurs’ Organization and as an adjunct professor, I’ve been able to connect with students and business leaders in meaningful ways. I also founded a global philanthropic initiative aimed at reducing intractable conflicts using the same entrepreneurial tools that helped me in business. And one of my most rewarding roles has been serving as a coach and facilitator to department chairs at the University of Chicago—helping brilliant scholars grow into exceptional leaders.”

Unequivocally, the heart of a true and devoted knight.

ROUND TABLE GROUP

www.roundtablegroup.com

Locations

  • Chicago, IL (312) 620-1175
  • Dallas, TX (214) 785-8955
  • Los Angeles, CA (323) 545-0450
  • New York City, NY (929) 468-2210
  • San Francisco, CA (628) 239-2700

Education

  • MBA, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
  • Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Northwestern University

Accreditations/Affiliations

  • Coach/Advisor to Academic Chairs University of Chicago Booth School of Business
  • National/International Lecturer

Organizations

  • American Bar Association Litigation Section
  • American College of Trial Lawyers

Expert Witness Work

  • Company Has Placed in Excess of 10,000 Expert Witnesses

Favorite Quote

  • “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” – Teddy Roosevelt

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