What's the Distinction between an Expert Consultant and an Expert Witness?

The prospect of being an expert witness' and testifying in court is exciting to many professionals

. However, roughly 90% of the time, even if you are hired to be an expert witness, you will act instead as a specialist consultant because the vast majority of cases simply do not go to trial.

The expert consultant part is often filled by a specialist who is later designated as the expert witness. The consultant part combines teaching and analytical roles that are equivalent to those of an expert witness, except that they do not include testifying in court. If you're already a specialist in your job, you can use the lessons in this book to discover how best to find new expert witness jobs and how to master this discipline. This form of consulting spans the following three main work areas:

Investigation - This is the initial phase. You study the technical details of materials, accidents, or other events. You might run tests, create reconstructions, or research books and journals for writings on the same subject matter as your case. Afterward, you consolidate your research, analyze your findings, and draw conclusions from them. Your primary role in the starting stage of an investigation is to learn the technical facts of the case and to describe to your retaining attorney the application of those facts. This, in turn, will guide your retaining attorney to better decisions.

Assessment -- After you've finished all necessary and preliminary research and analyse,you are ready to explain and assess what you have gathered. Attorneys will sometimes employ you to assess the technical merits of the other side's claims. You may review their submissions and give your opinions about the bases of the claims and their potential strengths or weaknesses.

Opinions --- As an expert consultant, you generally act behind the scenes. The other side in the case won't even realize you exist. That is the way it will stay if your analyses and assessments suggest to your retaining attorney that his case is weak, or if the attorney chooses not to go to trial because he simply wants to use your technical analyses to extract the best deal or settlement for his client.

Attorneys will have a deadline by which time they have to designate,' or officially identify, their expert witness. The discovery' process covers the preliminary phase of every legal matter. This is when investigations are done and appropriate information is shared among the parties. If the attorneys like your results, and are comfortable with and confident of you, they may formally designate you to the other side as their expert witness. You continue to be responsible for any ongoing investigations, analyses, and assessments, but you now will add the center stage part of potentially testifying in depositions or at trial. You will have to follow stringent rules for investigations, evaluations, and reporting on results and opinions.

In cases that involve higher stakes, attorneys will sometimes employ separate specialists to serve as expert consultants and expert witnesses. If you are selected in one of these roles, you may or may not have contact with the person hired to fill the other. Attorneys are taught to keep their expert consultants and witnesses separated but in my qualifications, they do not know or follow this advice. If you become one of two experts (a specialist consultant or an expert witness) in a case, ask your attorney about the possible upside or downside of having conversations with the other expert.

What's the Distinction between an Expert Consultant and an Expert Witness?

By: Judd Robbins

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