In 1984, Mr. Philo, while serving as President of Title Resources Guaranty Company, begin also taking an occasional assignment as an expert witness in matters of title insurance and escrow. In 1985 he was retained as a consultant by the New Mexico Department of Insurance to write their new insuring forms, regulations and premium rates.
In 2001, he formed Title Experts and Management Services (TEAMS) and thereafter continued to provide expert witness services, software development for the title insurance industry, and management consulting. He knew both Mr. McCullough and Mr. Himes as all three of them had served as presidents of different regional title insurers at the same time and had kept in contact through the American Land Title Association.
More recently, Mr. Philo decided to cut back on the number of new assignments he accepted and invited first, Mr. McCullough, and then, Mr. Himes, to become partners. He also associated with Mr. Lawrence on Texas cases; they worked together at one time and both were active in the Texas Land Title Association.
Today, TEAMS members continue to work, independantly of one another, as expert witnesses and consultants in litigation concerning title insurance, escrow and real estate closings. We work for both plaintiffs and defendants, usually through a law firm, but occasionally directly with an unrepresented individual. By chosing to work independantly we are able to maintain client confidentialities; however, should a client wish, we can work as a team.
We have done business in and provided expert witness services in (or about real estate in) most of the states in both state and federal courts.
In addition, we have provided regulatory assistance, including formation, licensing, form development and filing and rate filing assistance in multiple states.
We have also developed statistical and rate calculation solutions and acted as consultant and path-finder to the State of Iowa's recent revision of their title insurance software.