Sunday, March 31, 2019

Factors To Consider In Selecting An Engineering Expert Witness

By Anthony Murphy


When attorneys look for expert witnesses that they can hire for their case, what they will be looking into are the personal qualities of each person. Qualities that they believe would result to winning the case. Engineering expert witness quality vary from very poor to excellent. Attorneys would do their best just to find someone who can provide expert opinion for proving the case.

The obvious qualifications an expert should have that will indicate their suitability for a case is education, work experience, and skill. However, there are still other intangible qualities to consider that are important. Here are the qualities that most attorneys are looking for in them.

Confidence. Expert witnesses are usually examined by the opposing counsel to know how did they came to that opinion. They may also have to testify right in front of the jury or judge. Their goal for testifying is to make the people who are unfamiliar with the area of specialty believe in their opinion. A confident one can easily make the jury or judge believe in them.

Consistency. Most expert witness are not only testifying one case, they could have lots of cases with them. This makes it possible for them to forget some of the things they have said on reports and depositions, making it inconsistent. When the person testifying is inconsistent, the opposing party may point this out so that they can diminish his or her opinions.

Experience. One needs to have a detailed resume. Their educational credential must be at the top level and so does their experience. Effective experts have the relevant experience. Those with experience in public speaking, and other forms of interpersonal activities has the potential.

Have options. Even if you have already worked with someone who has great experience from the past, consider going for a different direction this time. No case is the same, they are all unique. You can talk to some experts to make sure that the one you are about to select is truly the best one for the case at hand.

Trustworthy. The reason why you hire the person in the first place is for him or her to convince the people with your case. And to do that, they must be trustworthy enough. You see, gaining trust starts with what the person is wearing and is followed by confidence, so he or she should be dressed professionally during the court trial.

Effective communication. A good communicator is what you should find. That means, they must be comfortable in using technical language used in such profession. Can speak without hesitating or the need to refer to the records and understand the questions posed to them and answers right away when a question is asked.

Knows how to improvise. Has the ability to improvise. In litigation, one of the important times is when your witness is questioned about something he or she is not prepared to answer. Hypothetical questions are often asked by attorneys to make the person say I do not know, so they need to come up with answers on the spot based.




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