Advice on how to NOT look like a hired gun (Even if you have a lot of testimony experience)
From: [Expert Communications] June's Expert News E-Newsletter:
Counsel may try to portray you as a *professional witness.* A professional witness is a witness who testifies frequently and derives a large percentage of his or her income from forensic work.
Counsel is trying to show that such a witness is biased by being consciously or unconsciously hesitant to jeopardize his livelihood by saying something that would hurt the party that retained him. The expert witness that can be portrayed as a *hired gun* due to the frequency with which he or she testifies can quickly be made to lose credibility.
Sample testimony
Q: Doctor, you are an experienced expert witness, are you not?
A: It depends on what you mean by experienced.
Q: You testify quite frequently, don't you?
A: Again, Counselor, it depends on what you mean by frequently.
Q: How many times have you testified in deposition in Massachusetts?
A: 60-80 times.
Q: In addition to depositions, you testified daily when you were a court clinic director.
A: That is correct.
Q: What superior courts have you testified in in Massachusetts?
A: Suffolk, Middlesex, Essex, Hampden, Worcester, I believe, Plymouth, Barnstable, Bristol. I think that's about it.
Q: Would you agree that you are an experienced expert witness?
A: It all depends on how you define experienced.
Lesson: Counsel has scored two major points with this witness. First, the doctor is clearly an experienced expert witness. Secondly, she is not forthcoming with any information. Both points will tend to make the jury or fact finder discredit her testimony. As a practical matter, the doctor would have been better off to admit that she was an experienced expert witness.
- Excerpted from *How To Excel During Depositions: Techniques for Experts That Work* by Steven Babitsky, Esq. and James J. Mangraviti, Jr., Esq. - info see http://expertcommunications.com/products.htm
Counsel may try to portray you as a *professional witness.* A professional witness is a witness who testifies frequently and derives a large percentage of his or her income from forensic work.
Counsel is trying to show that such a witness is biased by being consciously or unconsciously hesitant to jeopardize his livelihood by saying something that would hurt the party that retained him. The expert witness that can be portrayed as a *hired gun* due to the frequency with which he or she testifies can quickly be made to lose credibility.
Sample testimony
Q: Doctor, you are an experienced expert witness, are you not?
A: It depends on what you mean by experienced.
Q: You testify quite frequently, don't you?
A: Again, Counselor, it depends on what you mean by frequently.
Q: How many times have you testified in deposition in Massachusetts?
A: 60-80 times.
Q: In addition to depositions, you testified daily when you were a court clinic director.
A: That is correct.
Q: What superior courts have you testified in in Massachusetts?
A: Suffolk, Middlesex, Essex, Hampden, Worcester, I believe, Plymouth, Barnstable, Bristol. I think that's about it.
Q: Would you agree that you are an experienced expert witness?
A: It all depends on how you define experienced.
Lesson: Counsel has scored two major points with this witness. First, the doctor is clearly an experienced expert witness. Secondly, she is not forthcoming with any information. Both points will tend to make the jury or fact finder discredit her testimony. As a practical matter, the doctor would have been better off to admit that she was an experienced expert witness.
- Excerpted from *How To Excel During Depositions: Techniques for Experts That Work* by Steven Babitsky, Esq. and James J. Mangraviti, Jr., Esq. - info see http://expertcommunications.com/products.htm
posted by The Experts @ 2:11 PM
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