Expert Witness Handbook: Tips and Techniques for the Litigation Consultant

Expert Witness Work-A New Profit Center

More and more consultants are discovering a new place to sell their expertise: acting as advisors to attorneys in complex legal cases. Lawyers know the law but they can't possibly keep up with every type of business and technology. Consultants are called upon to investigate situations and explain what happened as well as to describe industry standards to attorneys. They are sometimes hired to explain their field to judges and juries. Many consultants find litigation consulting to be an exciting challenge. But most consultants do not know how to break into this type of work and are not sure what they are supposed to do once hired.

Getting started in expert witness work is easy. All you have to do is to send for listing applications for the various directories and consulting brokerages, send them in, and sit back and wait for the calls.

There is no reason to feel intimidated by the court system. Everything you need to know is contained in The Expert Witness Handbook, Tips and Techniques For The Litigation Consultant. It tells you how to get started, how to decide whether or not to accept a case, how to prepare for testimony, how to conduct yourself at a deposition and in court, how to make your testimony more effective, how to handle difficult questions, what to charge, how to bill and much much more. The book is filled with sample questions and answers which are very educational and a delight to read. It has just been released in a completely revised second edition.

This book will help you evaluate your own potential as a litigation consultant. Whether you decide to pursue expert witness work or are simply invited to serve as an expert at some time in your career, this book will help you to perform the job professionally and successfully. The Expert Witness Handbook will make a valuable addition to the library of any consultant.

Author, Dan Poynter is an expert in parachutes and skydiving. While this is a narrow field of expertise, he has worked on more than a hundred cases and has testified many times. This book is the combined result of his nearly 30 years in the field and the contributions of other witnesses, litigation attorneys, law professors and judges.

The (opposing) attorney has the (tough) questions. This book has the answers.

(From Chapter one)

What is an Expert Witness and Why be One?

If something can break, bend, crack, fold, spindle, mutilate, smolder, disintegrate, radiate, malfunction, embarrass, leach, besmirch, be abused or used incorrectly, infect or explode, you can bet there is someone, somewhere who can explain how and why it happened. These people are often asked to take part in legal actions. There are litigation consultants on jogging, bicycles, dancing, solid waste management, speaking, writing, human bites, coastal planning and even skydiving. These experts investigate and explain to the attorney, and later on they explain or teach the subject to the judge and jury.

You do not have to be a forensic scientist or a doctor to be an expert witness, but you do have to be skilled in a particular art, trade or profession or have special information or expertise in a particular subject area.

In court cases, a gemologist may be called in to evaluate jewelry, a toxicologist may explain the affects of alcohol in a drunk driving case, or a retired police officer may describe the sequence of events in a traffic arrest.

An automobile mechanic may be allowed to testify to the mileage on a vehicle when it does not match the number on the speedometer. He has been under thousands of cars and can tell by the wear and tear about how many miles the car has gone.

There are two kinds of witnesses: lay witnesses and expert witnesses. Eyewitnesses to the event may only tell what they saw, heard, felt or smelled; they are not allowed to tell what others have said (hearsay) or say what they think of the case. As a technical witness, on the other hand, you are allowed to express your opinion on any relevant issue falling within the scope of your expertise. It doesn't matter that you weren't there when it happened. You're presumed to be an impartial, disinterested witness who is simply explaining why and how things happen.

Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence provides that if scientific, technical or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact (jury) to understand the evidence or to determine an issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training or education may testify thereto in form of an opinion or otherwise.

Why would anyone want to be an expert witness? Five reasons come to mind:

1. To capitalize on your years of education and experience. Serving as a litigation consultant is a way to do more work in the field you enjoy. It enables you to develop a sideline that could lead to a post-retirement career. Sometimes people become experts just because they get tired of doing what they were doing. Perhaps you are already a consultant and are searching for another profit center. Litigation consulting has been called a prestigious way to moonlight.

2. To get into the action. To experience the challenge, drama and excitement of dealing with people's lives, large sums of money or even the course of history. It is your chance to prove or disprove scientific theories. Expert-witness work will put some excitement into your life.

3. To put something back into the system. That is, to help people in your field and to contribute to society. To see that justice is done.

4. To be hired to study. Since you must anticipate every question at deposition and at trial, you will have to conduct research, study and write. This bank of material may later be used in articles and books. Study is fun if you love your subject.

5. To make money. Expert-witness work pays well. It may take up 10% of your time but contribute 20% to your income. There is no inventory investment and the overhead is low. This is a new profit center for your business. You may charge $50 to $500 per hour for work you do at home and $1,000 to $3,000 per day plus expenses when you have to leave town to testify. Serving as an expert can be very rewarding financially. See the Guide to Experts' Fees, listed in the Appendix.

Perhaps none of these reasons apply to you. Maybe you work for one of the parties to the suit and are being called to testify about company procedures. This could be the only deposition or trial you attend. If so, you may wish to jump ahead to Chapter Four.

An expert witness or litigation consultant is someone skilled in a particular art, trade or profession or with special information or expertise in a particular subject area. The expert assists the client-attorney in understanding and presenting the technical aspects of the case.

Dan Poynter has been a practicing expert for more than 25 years; he counsels and testifies in parachute cases. He has served as litigation consultant throughout the U.S. and in five other countries, so far. This book is full of the inside nut-and-bolts tips only a participant could know.

Dan Poynter has also been a participant in parachutes and skydiving since 1962. With 1,200 jumps and every license, rating and award, he has written six books on the subjects. Two books have been translated into other languages. Politically active in the sport and industry, he has served on virtually every committee and has been elected Chairman of the Board of the U.S. Parachute Association and President of the Parachute Industry Association. His credibility as an expert witness is verified by his experience in the sport and leadership in the industry.

Dan Poynter has a BA and two years of post-graduate work in law. The author of more than 500 magazine articles, ten audio tapes and more than 70 books, he is an author and publisher first and a technical expert second. His work as an author since 1962 has allowed him to study his subjects in detail while validating his expertise.

Dan Poynter's seminars have been featured on CNN, his books have been pictured in The Wall Street Journal, and his story has been told in U.S. News & World Report. The media comes to him because he is the leading authority on how to succeed as an expert witness. He has participated in many National Forensic Conferences as a featured speaker, breakout leader and keynoter. He is a Fellow of the National Forensic Center. Dan is an active member of the National Speakers Association.

The author was prompted to write this book because so many people approached him for information on litigation consulting. He lives in Santa Barbara, California.