The Leading Authority in
Expert Witness Search & Referral tm
By Kathryn Regina
It is a foregone conclusion that expert witnesses can make the difference in an important case. Yet, working with experts, from sourcing them to preparing them for trial, can be a challenge.
In this article, we interview a number of litigators abouttheir "expert witness war stories."
Lesson One: Get help when you have trouble finding exactly the right person
Finding the right expert can make or break a case. Eric Hudson, an attorney with Butler Snow, recalls the time he represented the defendant in a toxic tort case involving 250 plaintiffs. He needed an oncologist with a high level of credibility to respond to cancer claims.
"We had a hard time locating such a specific person," says Hudson, "and when we weren't having any luck we looked into Round Table Group. Within a matter of days they put us in touch with someone who was perfectly credentialed for what we were looking for. And she did a phenomenal job. We couldn't have been more pleased with her."
Paul Ragusa, a partner at Baker Botts LLP, had a similar experience with Round Table Group. He needed a technical expert for a case brought on by a sole indenter against a group of cellular mobile handset manufacturers. "We did attempt to get an expert on our own, and found it difficult to do so," says Ragusa."Round Table Group found several potential candidates, and the case resulted in a very favorable settlement."
Similarly, William Hyslop, a principal at Lukins & Annis PS, required someone with a substantial banking background for a commercial litigation case involving banking issues. "This is a field of fairly specialized expertise. We were able to interview several different candidates that Round Table Group recommended, and selected one that ultimately worked out very well."
Lesson Two: Know your expert's work
Chris Christie, a partner at Bradley Arant Rose & White LLP, recalls a time when opposing counsel's ignorance about its expert's work became detrimental to the case.
"As part of a question, I read a quote from the opposing expert's book," says Christie. "Opposing counsel, who did not know where the quote came from, called the quote the most asinine thing he had ever heard.The expert witness subsequently did not follow that lawyer's objections or other attempts to control his own expert's testimony."
On a separate occasion, the expert in a bid-rigging case stated that 90 percent of bids included at least one tie, when in actuality only eight out of 10 bids had a tie. "He would not admit a mistake," says Christie. "The case settled when, while a Daubert motion was pending, the judge seemed likely to exclude the statistician's testimony as unreliable.
"This is an example of why you always have to check your experts' and opposing experts' work. You need to read what's submitted to you, and you need to review what else he's written, because even a statistician will make a mistake like saying that eight out of 10 is 90 percent. So the lesson is, don't trust your own expert--check it yourself."
Russ W. Rosenzweig, CEO of Round Table Group, an expert witness referral firm, concurs with Christie. "Finding the perfect expert is difficult enough, but it is not enough. You also need to predict what the expert will say, and this is done by reading her past articles, deposition transcripts, blog entries. Collecting these materials is very time consuming, and Round Table Group can help aggregate these materials for you."
Lesson Three: A free expert could cost you
Shell Bleiweiss, whose offices specialize in environmental and OSHA law, recalls the time he took an $11,000 case as a family favor. He needed to prove that a replacement for a residential boiler was defective. The client didn't want to spend additional money on an expert, but the person that installed the boiler agreed to testify as a favor.
Bleiweiss says the expert was willing to say all of the right things, and he did well in the informal interview with opposing counsel early in the case. Ordinarily, Bleiweiss would have gone over everything with him again repeatedly before trial to make sure he was ready.
But because it was a favor, Bleiweiss decided to rely on the assumption that the expert would say the same things he said in the interview. And he didn't.
"He got very wishy-washy at trial and said maybe this, maybe that.Very different from what he'd said before.You dig yourself in a hole you can't get out of when that happens," says Bleiweiss.
"It was as much my fault as the expert's in this instance, but the moral is you have to pay for quality," says Bleiweiss. "And be doubly careful if someone's doing you a favor. Make sure they know you're going to expect the same level of input from them as if they were being paid. And even then, it's hard to follow through with it.In general, you're better off paying."
Round Table Group can help you avoid the problems that can arise if you don't have the right expert on your case by locating, assessing and delivering expert candidates. RTG's team of trained attorney specialists uses rigorous methodologies, relationships with numerous firms and proprietary databases to find unbiased expertise. Please contact Mark Swansiger at 202-595-2000 for a demonstration on how Round Table Group provides a level of service, and a breadth and depth of experts that is unmatched.
Categories
Expert Witness War Stories
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this post: Expert Witness Washouts: Three Lessons Learned
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.roundtablegroup.com/movabletype/mt-tb.cgi/18
Post a comment
This page contains a single entry by posted on August 15, 2007 2:51 PM.
7 Factors That Affect Expert Witness Billing Rates: Get the Best Deal was the previous post in this blog.
The Expert Advisor, Issue 4 is the next post in this blog.
Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.
