My blog focuses on Legal Affairs. Depending on the court case you are involved in, you might need an expert witness. These individuals can often times likewise sway cases. The following contributed post is entitled, The Expert Witness Qualities Your Legal Team Needs.
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If you run a law firm or a legal team, you’ll know the value of expert witnesses. These professionals can provide courts with significant insights into the circumstances of a particular case, specifically accidents or crimes of a technical nature. What qualities should you be looking for in these people? Who should you have on your team so you can better represent your clients and defend their interests?
Active practice and deep technical knowledge
I’ll start with witnesses who are actively practising and have deep technical knowledge of their specific area of expertise and skills. This will help convince the jury that what they’re saying is accurate and that they have all of the information they need to have. Experts who are actively practising tend to be better witnesses. That’s because they’re not just hired guns but people who are involved in their fields and understand how they’re developing their expertise. This should also be backed by scientific papers and/or factual professional data. Any information presented should be highly convincing in a courtroom environment.
The ability to translate complex concepts simply
You also want expert witnesses who are able to translate complex concepts into simple terms that members of the jury and the judge can understand. Most won’t have expertise in the specific area or niche in which the expert is qualified, so it’s critical for them to speak in layman’s terms. At the same time, they need to be able to demonstrate mastery. This could involve using visual charts or models, anchoring their testimony in a narrative that everybody else can understand.
For example, let’s say that you have an ear expert witness for a car accident case. This witness is essential because they are going to help you get compensation from the other side for any auditory damage caused to your client. You want somebody who can speak in simple terms and not use medical jargon. They should be able to offer common sense explanations that everybody in the room can understand.
Composure and resilience
Another nice quality to see in expert witnesses is a sense of composure and resilience. They should be able to keep their calm under fire and remain humble and paradoxically quiet. Expert witnesses are most effective when they can resist the urge to argue or show irritation. They should simply offer a blank slate presentation of the facts.
When experts are highly resilient in this way, they can often survive cross-examination. Even aggressive questioning doesn’t have any impact on them because they’re so rooted in the scientific method and the underlying theories and paradigms that they’re using. If there is any ambiguity on a certain point, they should be able to give probabilities of specific instances occurring.
True independence
Finally, you want somebody that offers true independence and a candid explanation. What really happened, in their view, should be completely frank and upfront, showcasing their objectivity wherever possible. They shouldn’t be afraid to highlight the limitations of their data or their interpretations, or to provide counterfactuals to more fully explain their position.
