Effective Expert Testimony (Nita Practical Guide Series)

Effective Expert Testimony takes readers from the initial decision to hire an expert to the search for the right expert--all the way through the various pretrial and trial activities for which experts and attorneys must be prepared. The book emphasizes many opportunities for persuasion when conducting direct examination of the expert, and underscores the work that is required to control the expert--compared to the lay witness--on cross examination. The authors look in detail both at the careful steps that must be undertaken in deposing experts and at the tools available for cross-examining the expert. According the Malone and Zwier, to present and to oppose experts effectively the attorney must develop and utilize a number of skills such as attention to detail, patience with follow-up, care in organization, and avoidance of ego.

Throughout the book, the authors emphasize the need for the attorney to treat the expert--consulting and testifying--as an integral part of the trial team. The shape of the case, as determined by the complaint, answer, and early discovery, reflects the attorney's judgment and the expert's knowledge. The authors stress that attorneys must understand the Supreme Court's recent Daubert trilogy so they can assist, or even direct, the court in its gatekeeping function of keeping unreliable expert testimony out of the record.

This useful and practical guide contains appendices including selected Federal Rules of Evidence as amended to December 1, 2000; Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26 as Amended to December 1, 2000; and Daubert, Joiner, and Kumho Tire cases.

Paul J. Zwier is Director of the Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution and a member of the faculty at the University of Tennessee College of Law. He is co-author of Expert Rules: 100 (and More) Points You Need to Know About Expert Witnesses (NITA, 1999), as well as numerous articles and books for both the law school and practitioner market on a variety of litigation topics including negotiation, deposition skills, appellate advocacy, motion practice, fact investigation, and ethics.