Expert witnesses play a crucial and growing role in litigation today. They bridge the gap between relevant but sophisticated case details and the counsel, judge and jury who must understand those details to make important decisions. Recruiting the right expert witness to strengthen your client’s legal position can have a major impact on the case’s outcome. However, many legal professionals are unsure where to find expert witnesses or how to vet them.
If you’re in that position or want to refine your expert witness selection process, this guide to finding an expert witness will tell you everything you need to know. Follow these six steps to find an expert witness you can trust.
1. Start Early
Start your search for an expert witness as soon as you realize you need one. You can expect better results from an expert witness when you take the time to:
- Identify potential witnesses.
- Conduct thorough vetting.
- Get to your first-choice expert before the opposing counsel does and avoid conflicts of interest.
- Hire an expert witness before other commitments fill their schedule.
- Allow the witness time to research, review materials and write a report.
- Gather information from the witness that could help your entire legal team.
- Formulate document requests and deposition questions.
2. Decide What Type of Expert You Need
Give your search a laser focus from the start. Your case theory and the details you know will determine the field or niche you want to look into. Think about the education, expertise, qualifications and experience your ideal expert would have and generate a list of essential and preferred criteria. Clarify whether your priority is theoretical knowledge, hands-on experience or both.
3. Research the Subject
Read through peer-reviewed journals and other sources from their discipline to gain a working understanding of the subject. While you don’t need to become an expert in the field yourself, being able to have an informed conversation about the subject matter is valuable for:
- Refining your case theory.
- Discovering experts to consider contacting.
- Vetting experts to understand whether their opinions support your case theory.
- Understanding the information they share to help your team prepare.
- Formulating more specific deposition questions.
4. Review the Legal Standards for Expert Testimony
As you search for an expert witness, consider the standards your jurisdiction could use to decide whether to accept them and their testimony. These include:
- Rule 702: The Federal Rule of Evidence 702 gives broad scope for acceptable expert testimony in federal courts, so long as it’s helpful and reliable. The testimony is acceptable if the expert is qualified to help the judge and jury understand a relevant fact, they base their testimony on sufficient information, they use reliable methods to inform their testimony, and they apply those methods to the case facts in a reliable way.
- Rule 703: This rule establishes valid bases for expert witnesses to form their opinions. In addition to admissible evidence, they may consider facts and data beyond what is admissible in court, as long as they’re the kind of information other experts in their field treat as reasonably reliable.
- Frye v. United States: The case Frye v. United States informs expert opinion admissibility standards in many jurisdictions. It establishes a stricter standard according to which an opinion is admissible if based on a method the relevant scientific community generally accepts. Courts holding to this standard may not admit expert opinions based on newer, innovative scientific techniques.
- Daubert standard: The case Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. found the general acceptance standard in Frye too strict, emphasizing the trial judge’s responsibility to discern admissable opinions in light of Rule 702’s broad helpfulness, relevance and reliability standards. Federal courts follow the Daubert standard, but state courts vary in how they interpret and apply these cases. Clarify the standards typical in your jurisdiction before choosing your expert witness.
5. Identify Potential Expert Witnesses
By now, you’ll have a decent profile of your ideal expert witness. Here are 12 ways you can find a pool of candidates that may fit the bill.
Online Directories
Searchable online directories are the quickest, most convenient way to find a pool of qualified expert witnesses. They’re also among the most cost-effective methods, sometimes allowing free searches.
Look for a reputable directory with high qualification standards, as this ensures your chosen witness will be reliable and reduces your time investment in vetting experts who won’t make the cut. A directory with experts in a wide array of niches can become your go-to resource. Remember, the quality of a directory’s network is more important than the quantity of people in it.
Referral Services
Some attorneys use expert witness locator agencies and referral services to find a legal witness. This approach is seldom the first choice because it can be more expensive, the agency may not have rigorous vetting protocols, and sometimes, the opposing counsel argues that witnesses registered with these agencies are biased. While referral services may seem similar to online directories, the best directories offer superior transparency, quality standards and value for money.
Experts From Past Cases
If you know an expert witness who’s done well for you in a previous case and their expertise is relevant to this one, you could approach them again. If you do this, remember the importance of the witness not appearing biased toward your side. If this is a concern or your preferred past witness is unavailable, they may be able to refer you to another respected candidate from their field.
Your team may also know an expert witness who impressed them while testifying against your side in a previous matter. Many expert witnesses would consider it a compliment if the opposing attorneys ask for their contact details after a deposition. If their expertise is relevant and they can bring an impartial opinion that supports your case theory, consider approaching them.
Referrals From Other Attorneys
Your legal team can draw on its professional network to gather expert witness referrals from other attorneys. These peers may be able to recommend witnesses who performed well under cross-examination in previous cases and have credible authority on the subject matter.
Professional and Legal Associations
Many disciplines and professions have membership associations, so you may be able to find one for your case’s subject matter. The association’s membership directory, publications and recommendations could point you to a viable expert witness at little or no cost.
Relevant Literature
Search publications in the relevant fields for potential expert witnesses who are the authors and editors of:
- Journal articles
- Scholarly articles
- Professional manuals
- Textbooks
- Authoritative websites
- Popular-level resources on their subject of expertise
Online searches make it easy to identify contributors to authoritative literature, and a solid publication record can add to your witness’s credibility.
Certifying Organizations
Many technical disciplines have authoritative certifying organizations with rigorous examinations. For example, the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) has certified over 72,000 psychiatrists and over 24,000 neurologists. Professionals who earn certifications from organizations like the ABPN have credibility in their fields and can make good expert witnesses.
A certifying organization in a specialty relevant to your case may be willing to share an active membership list or directory to help you find an expert witness.
Universities
University and college professors are subject matter experts whose contact information is often accessible through their institution’s website. Consider searching for lecturers and researchers in relevant academic departments.
Jury Verdict Reviews
Legal publications online and in print report jury verdicts and settlements. Many of these reports contain the names of expert witnesses who testified. If you find a jury verdict review where an expert witness gave an impactful testimony on a subject relevant to your case, consider noting their name and looking up their contact information.
Fact Witnesses
In some cases, a fact witness could become an expert witness or double as one, provided their opinion can meet admissibility criteria. If you take this dual witness approach, get approval from the court first by showing their firsthand knowledge of the events and their expert opinion are relevant.
Paid Online Legal Research Services
Some paid legal research services offer databases of expert witnesses based on:
- Past cases they’ve testified in
- Reports and transcripts
- Jury verdict reports
- Expert witness directories
Networking Events
Though not the most time-efficient method, attending conferences, expos and other networking events can connect you to potential expert witnesses. If you don’t meet them there, you may meet someone who can refer you to a credible expert.
6. Vet Your Candidates
If you’ve followed the previous steps, you’ll have one or more candidates in mind. Now, it’s time to vet them. Thorough vetting is essential to ensure your witness can communicate an informed, technical opinion persuasively in support of your case.
Include the following four steps in your vetting process.
Assess Qualifications and Expertise
Check and verify each candidate’s resume. It should be plain that this person is an expert on the subject matter based on their:
- Education
- Professional training
- Certifications
- Skills
- Publications
- Experience
Ideally, you want to identify a few qualified candidates and use the next stages of the vetting process to choose your expert witness.
Request Reports and Publications
If your candidates have served as expert witnesses before, look at any reports, depositions or trial transcripts from these cases. Try to assess:
- How well they understood the relevant issues.
- How clearly and persuasively they communicate their expertise to laypeople.
- Whether they’ve taken any past positions that could undermine your case.
- Whether they can remain calm and persuasive under cross-examination.
While past experience as an expert witness can be very valuable, it isn’t essential. If this would be your candidate’s first time serving as a witness, look at their published material to answer the questions above. Anything from scholarly journal articles to popular books, lectures and even social media content can help you evaluate the expert’s knowledge and communication skills.
Run a Background Check
If you bring an expert witness, sharp opposing counsel will dig deep into their background for anything that could undermine their credibility. Running a thorough background check is vital to prevent any surprises during a trial. This involves:
- Asking the expert if they have anything in their past to disclose that opposing counsel could use against them.
- Contacting other attorneys who have relied on, deposed or cross-examined the expert to ask about their experience.
- Searching court records, reports, depositions and transcripts from any previous case they were involved in.
- Checking that their professional license, if they need one, is valid and has never been suspended.
- Inspecting whether their resume demonstrates expertise and is free of errors.
- Establishing whether they’ve ever had a Daubert challenge and whether they overcame it.
- Determining if they have a criminal record, a messy divorce or a DUI charge in their past.
- Scanning their social media for any controversial opinions or inappropriate content.
- Discovering any political donations or other financial moves that could offend the jury.
- Evaluating whether the jury will find the expert impartial or whether the opposition could portray them as biased.
Interview Experts
Through the previous stages of your vetting process, you may have reduced your shortlist of potential expert witnesses to a handful of top candidates. To make a final selection, conduct virtual or in-person interviews. Consider giving them some information about the case beforehand and enough notice to prepare a preliminary opinion. This way, you can even try a mock cross-examination with them where you role-play as the opposing counsel to see how they hold up.
During the interview, ask yourself the following questions:
- Do they present themselves in a professional manner?
- Is their demeanor appropriate to the case?
- Do they convey confidence, expertise and professionalism without arrogance?
- Are they well-prepared?
- Do they understand the relevant details, and can they explain them to laypeople?
- Are they interested in and enthusiastic about the case?
- Will they be available for those dates?
Provided you start with a pool of quality experts, you can arrive at an excellent final choice based on your initial research, vetting and conclusions after interviewing your top candidates.
Find an Expert for Your Case With Intellex
The quality of expert witness you can bring to the trial depends on the pool of candidates you can access. Many legal teams are unsure where to begin their search to get the best results. To find pre-vetted experts from a broad range of disciplines, start with Intellex.
We provide experienced, on-demand consultants and expert witnesses. To streamline your process of selecting an expert witness, our expert witness locator only connects you with experts with well-established track records and credentials. Our experts have experience in over 30,000 areas, and we’ll custom-recruit if necessary to find you the ideal expert for your case.
Submit a free expert request today to strengthen your case.
