Hiring an Expert Witness? 10 Questions You Should Ask
If your campus is involved in litigation, an unqualified witness could ruin your case.
Since you will not find these types of problems in an expert’s marketing materials or on their Web site, one way to try to discover these types of problems is through direct questioning by the hiring attorney. Some careful questioning by legal counsel can usually identify these types of issues because an expert who blatantly misrepresents themselves to hiring counsel can sometimes be litigated for losses that result from their disqualification. Some questions that can be helpful for your legal counsel to ask include:
- Has the expert only served as an expert witness for either defense or plaintiffs in past cases, which could lead to disqualification for bias?
- Has the expert ever been disqualified from serving as an expert witness?
- Has the expert ever been terminated by hiring counsel or withdrawn from any previous cases?
- Has the expert ever been terminated with cause or asked to resign from a job?
- Has the expert ever had a client terminate a contract for services?
- Has the expert ever been litigated or have they litigated a client in relation to their work as a subject matter expert?
- Has the expert ever been arrested for a criminal offense?
- If challenged to do so by opposing counsel, can the expert document any degrees, certifications and major training credentials?
- Has the expert filed protests and/or open records requests with campus and government organizations?
- Does the expert have adequate credentials and experience to qualify them to offer an opinion for the facts in question?
An honest and properly qualified expert should have no problem answering these questions. To most top experts in any field, the closer you examine their background, the better they look. While there can and sometimes will be satisfactory answers to explain a potentially problematic answer, severe situations or a pattern of answers of concern can easily provide fertile ground for a skilled and properly prepared attorney during deposition. Taking the time to help your legal counsel evaluate proposed expert witnesses can have a major impact on the outcome of a lawsuit just as it can in a criminal case.
Disclaimer: Safe Havens International does not employ any attorneys and does not provide legal advice. This document includes educational tips and viewpoints that may be helpful to campus organizations and their attorneys. For specific legal advice on expert witness issues, please consult a qualified attorney.
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Photo via Flickr, lambdachialpha
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About the Author
Michael Dorn, Contributor
Michael Dorn serves as the Executive Director of Safe Havens International, a global non profit campus safety center. During his 30 year campus safety career, Michael has served as a university police officer, corporal, sergeant and lieutenant. He served as a school system police chief for ten years before being appointed the lead expert for the nation's largest state government K-20 school safety center. The author of 25 books on school safety, his work has taken him to Central America, Mexico, Canada, Europe, Asia, South Africa and the Middle East. Michael welcomes comments, questions or requests for clarification at mike@weakfish.org. Note: The views expressed by guest bloggers and contributors are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, Campus Safety magazine.
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