Expert Witness Billing Rates: What should I charge?

Inquiring (Expert) Minds Want to Know, Part Three  (part of a series)

Every day Round Table Group fields scores of requests from expert witnesses via phone, email, and live web greeter service, who are seeking answers to pressing business development questions. We have three Expert Witness Services staff members whose sole job is to provide answers to expert witnesses' questions. After several years of speaking with thousands of our colleagues, we have come up with the most frequently ask questions from our network of over 100,000 expert witnesses. Here is one of them, a continuation of a series of conversations about expert witness billing rates.

A new expert from Arizona recently asked me two great questions, one of which is addressed here, and the other in a posting soon to follow.

He asked: "I am an expert in pressure gauges, with 23 years of experience in platform operations in the north Atlantic. I just retired from rigs a few months ago. One of your team contacted me about a consulting opportunity. I'm sending in my information to her, but I don't know what to charge per hour. What should I use as my hourly consulting rate?"

Great question! I start by referring you to some previous entries in this Blog, which offers some useful methods to address this. But let us also use some specific data collected from our referral network of over 100,000 expert witnesses. Most experts have two rates; rates for testifying/deposition, and rates for non-testifying expert witness consultation.

Petroleum Engineering, with decades of oil rig experience, is a unique skill/experience set. A sample survey reveals that the hourly, non-testifying rates for a petroleum engineer expert witnesses range from a low of $100.00 an hour, to a high of $450.00 an hour, with an average rate of about $250.00 an hour. The survey found only 3 instances of a rate for testifying being noted, which averaged to 275.00 an hour.

Of course, a lot of other issues, such as your availability, the duration of the case, retainers, and other expectations should be considered when deciding on your current rate.

For a future Blog, regarding some observed trends in how experts are responding to an industry hit hard by the recession.  Stay tuned...

 

 

 

Tags
expert witness
expert witness consultant
expert witness referral
expert witnesses
north Atlantic
Petroleum Engineering
platform operations
pressure gauges
recession
referral

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