Sometimes, if you’re in the middle of legal action, it makes sense to hire and work with an expert witness. There are many different types of expert witnesses, each with different types of expertise, but many of them play a similar role in litigation and trials. What are the benefits of securing an expert witness? And how can you get one?
What Is an Expert Witness?
An expert witness is a trained professional utilized in a legal context to provide advice, direction, and sometimes specific services in pursuit of a given legal outcome. These trained experts typically have many years of experience and objective credentials to show their authoritativeness in a particular subject.
They may be capable of conducting certain types of investigations. They can provide industry perspective and knowledge. They can even get involved in negotiations and offer their expertise in the form of witness testimony.
For example, an expert in software development might be able to assist with an intellectual property dispute, conducting a source code analysis to determine whether a competing piece of software has violated patent law. Based on their findings, they can give advice to lawyers and give them context from the software development industry to help them formulate arguments.
Eventually, they may even go to trial and provide witness testimony on the stand.
The Benefits of Securing an Expert Witness
What are the benefits of hiring an expert witness?
1. Industry knowledge. For starters, hiring an expert witness gives you access to industry knowledge. If you have a legal issue, you’ve probably already hired a lawyer. Your lawyer has deep knowledge in their area of legal expertise, but they may be ignorant of industry knowledge in other niches. Expert witnesses help to close this gap.
2. Research capabilities. Some expert witnesses have research capabilities that can help them find and present new information. For example, they can conduct forensic tests, source code analyses, and other types of evaluations. Depending on what they find, they might be able to help you build a more substantial case.
3. A neutral perspective. Human beings are plagued by cognitive biases, which detrimentally affect our ability to use logic and reason consistently. An expert witness functions as a neutral third party, providing objective and logical foundations for your arguments. They can challenge things you’ve gotten wrong and introduce things you may not have considered.
4. An impartial foundation. Expert witnesses are valuable for determining facts impartially, as well. While your opposition may eventually hire their own expert witnesses, the testimony of your expert witness will be hard to refute.
5. Opportunities for evidence gathering. Sometimes, expert witnesses present new ideas for gathering evidence. Their knowledge of the industry may entitle them to knowledge of little-known sources or techniques.
6. Practical experience. Your expert witness has the practical experience to determine what is “reasonable” in a given situation in their field. This is something that outsiders have trouble speculating about.
7. Negotiating power. Having an expert witness could also lend you more bargaining power. If your expert witness is effectively on your side and they help present powerful evidence against the opposition, the opposition may be motivated to offer a higher settlement amount. Depending on the circumstances, this could be far more than you pay for the expert witness.
8. Trial presence. Most cases never go to trial; instead, they reach a mutually agreeable settlement outside of court. But if you do go to trial, having an expert witness on the stand lends significant credibility to your case.
Is It Worth It?
Remember, expert witnesses do cost money and will increase the bottom-line costs of your legal action. Is hiring a legal expert always worth it? The short answer is no. Some types of disputes don’t require expert witnesses, and in cases when the facts are not in dispute, expert witnesses have limited utility. Talk to your lawyer to determine whether it makes sense to hire an expert witness for your case.
Finding an Expert Witness
How exactly do you find an expert witness? Some people market themselves as expert witnesses, showing off their credentials and past experiences and advertising their services to lawyers.
Other people are simply established experts in their field who are open to the possibility of working with legal teams. You can start by asking your lawyer for a recommendation or doing some research on your own to find qualified candidates. Just keep in mind that good expert witnesses have a wealth of objectively valuable experience in their chosen field, as well as the communication skills necessary to present their findings.
You may not need an expert witness for every legal issue you encounter, but they can be indispensable in some situations. Work closely with your lawyer to find the right expert witnesses for your case and harness their potential for resolving your most important legal disputes.
