Generally, a prospective Consultant will be identified and selected based on a referral from someone within the network, or they may already be a member of the network and known from previous consultations. They may also be identified based on their selected categories of topical or geographic interest or expertise, actual physical location, or specific, scientific or traditional ecological knowledge.

The Consultant is often contacted by the Editor via email with an invitation and a sample of the observation submission. A member may also see a posted observation report and contact the Editor through a comment to offer a consultation or a referral.

Sometimes more than one Consultant might be contacted. For example, one consultation may be requested to identify an unusual species or provide information about a particular event, and a second to describe the potential implications of the event or to give advice about previous sightings of the species or event.

If an individual accepts the consultation request, they can respond to the Editor directly and provide additional information by email. The Consultant can also be connected with the Observer directly, again usually via email. Several versions of the Observation Report may be reviewed by the authors prior to its final posting. In other cases, the posts are approved and published before a consultation is received. In this case, the consultation submission is added when it becomes available.

The content of the consultation response is up to the Consultant. One goal of LEO Network is to make the observation and consultation process as easy as possible: a response is often a short email. The level of time invested can be large, but this is driven by the Consultant's level of interest and not by the Network.