Tag Archives: Expert Witnesses

Top Witness Preparation Tips for Litigators.

24 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by in Experts, Litigation, Trial Tips and Techniques, Witnesses

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The Top 14 Testimony Tips for Litigators and Expert Witnesses, posted by Ryan Flax, The Litigation Consulting Report

http://tinyurl.com/me7elwo

Litigators and their witnesses are confronted with difficult situations during testimony, and it’s nice to have reliable ways out of those sticky situations.

Expert witnesses are engaged to provide their expert insight and opinions supporting their client’s case during testimony and are there to tell the truth to the best of their knowledge when questioned at trial or deposition.

Litigators get paid to ask good and, at times, tough questions to get desired answers from the opposition’s witnesses and to help their own witnesses do their best.

During both courtroom testimony and in depositions there are common situations where an attorney tries to make things difficult for the witness. Below, I identify 14 of these common situations and provide some good strategies, both from my own experience as a litigator and from tips collected from attorneys and expert witnesses. Consider the points below when advising and preparing your witnesses for trial and depositions. . . .

Direct and Cross-Examination – Links, Tips, and Resources.

13 Sunday Jul 2014

Posted by in Child Witnesses, Cross-Examination, Direct Examination, Experts, Making Objections, Trial Tips and Techniques, Witnesses

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Examination and Cross-Examination: Getting the Facts, Trial Practice Skills, Pace Law Library

http://libraryguides.law.pace.edu/content.php?pid=149008&sid=1265851

Links on Direct Examination, Cross-Examination, Examining Expert Witnesses, Child Witnesses, and other related links. -CCE

Preparing for Expert Witness Depositions.

01 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by in Cross-Examination, Depositions, Discovery, Expert Witness, Trial Tips and Techniques

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Preparing for Expert Depositions by Looking Ahead to the Cross-Examination at Trial, by Evan Schaeffer, The Trial Practice Tips Weblog

http://tinyurl.com/kl6857f

Your preparation for depositions will generally be much easier if you think about the ways the testimony will be used at trial. This tip applies to most pretrial discovery: it’s almost never an end in itself, but something that will be used later in front of a jury. It’s no accident that the ins-and-outs of pretrial discovery often make more sense after a lawyer has witnessed some actual trials. When trials are scarce, even reading trial transcripts helps.

The looking-ahead-to-trial tip can be especially useful for deposing your opponent’s experts. If you often rely on outlines prepared by other lawyers, this method will also help you understand why it’s important to ask the questions lawyers typically ask when deposing experts. . . .

Expert Witness Lesson – Don’t Do This.

24 Monday Feb 2014

Posted by in Child Abuse, Expert Witnesses, Family Law, Judges

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What Expert Witnesses Should Not Do (Dylan, Woody & the Judge), posted by Rita Handrich, The Jury Room Blog

http://keenetrial.com/blog/2014/02/24/what-expert-witnesses-should-not-do-dylan-woody-the-judge/

The sad and painful tale of Dylan Farrow has emerged again following her letter to the NYT after Woody Allen received the Golden Globes Lifetime Achievement Award. Woody Allen responded to Ms. Farrow’s open letter and she responded to his response. The internet has been on fire with reactions, pro-Farrow, pro-Allen, and everything in between. You can find them with a simple internet search and we won’t link to them here.

This post isn’t really about the letter, the responses, or the internet reaction to them. Instead, it’s about the original judge in the dispute and a cautionary tale for the attorneys who hire expert witnesses everywhere. I first saw the judge’s written opinion when it was sent around on a mailing list. It reads like a ‘don’t do this’ text for the would-be forensic expert witness. There are so many legitimate reasons this case would not have succeeded at trial–regardless of Mr. Allen’s actual culpability. . . .

Latest Ninth Circuit Decision on Rule 26 Discovery From Testifying Experts.

16 Sunday Feb 2014

Posted by in 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Appellate Law, Attorney Work Product, Court Rules, Court Rules, Discovery, Evidence, Expert Witness, Experts, Federal District Court Rules, Federal Rules of Evidence, Requests for Production, Rule 26, Trial Tips and Techniques

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Ninth Circuit Rules on Scope of Discovery from Testifying Experts, by Michael Kelleher, Cogent Legal Blog

http://tinyurl.com/knvhgv2

[A] new Ninth Circuit decision about the scope of expert discovery in federal court caught our attention. The decision in Republic of Ecuador v. Mackay, No. 12-15572 (9th Cir. Jan. 31, 2014) poses the question: where the expert has served both as a confidential advisor to counsel and as a testifying expert, may counsel withhold documents shared with the expert by asserting an opinion work product objection? The short answer is no—documents from testifying experts must be produced unless protected by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(4).

Courtroom Body Language – How to Read It and Use It In Court.

04 Saturday Jan 2014

Posted by in Closing Argument, Cross-Examination, Direct Examination, Experts, Judges, Jury Selection, Opening Argument, Trial Tips and Techniques, Voir Dire, Witness Preparation

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Tips For Reading And Managing Courtroom Body Language, by Legal Skills Prof, Legal Skills Prof Blog

http://tinyurl.com/k7uxpr7

The most brilliant trial attorneys seem to have a natural instinct for reading people, knowing intuitively what a nod from a juror or glance from a judge implies. For the rest of us, there’s this handy cheat sheet that breaks down some of the most common body language exhibited in the courtroom. You can use it to modulate your own behavior, train your client, or gain additional insight into opposing counsel, judge and jury.

Litigation Tips and Techniques

15 Tuesday Oct 2013

Posted by in Expert Witnesses

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Court Rules Defendant May Cross-Examine on Fact That Plaintiff’s Attorney Referred Plaintiff to Doctor, posted by Daniel E. Cummins, TortTalk (originally published Pennsylvania Law Weekly “Digest of Recent Opinions – October 1, 2013) http://bit.ly/171qp7n