How do I get jobs as an Expert Witness?
Establish yourself as an expert in your desired field through education, job experience,peer review, longevity in the field, practical experience, training, and displaying a level of knowledge about a subject. Expert witnesses don’t just start a career path trying to be an“expert witness” you have to surpass your field. If you are able to testify under pressure and face of expert cross examination.
There is no advertising for expert witnesses due to litigation being confidential in nature. Meaning that someone has to know that you exist and find you online. But unfortunately the only way to be found if you aren’t known is keywords.
If you don’t have any prior litigation experience as an expert witness you should either join a directory or LinkedIn. Your profile on any site should be thorough and complete therefore paralegals can hire you, you have to remember paralegals don’t know anything about you besides what you put on your profiles that is why you should always put as much information on any listing or website.
How to get Referrals?
A question that might be lingering in the minds of an upcoming expert witness, is how do I get referrals. Well one way is by other attorneys calling lawyers to talk to each other all the time, asking for advice on how to handle matters. Attorneys from past cases will reach out to experts who have testified against their clients in a previous matter.
Referral networks prepare a written outline of attorneys and other experts who can give you leads. These referral sources indicate how often you want to communicate with each source. Example you want to meet with your best “B” referral source every 45 days; “A” resource may warrant a 70-90 day schedule. Lastly, “C” referrals may just want phone calls or direct mail every 30-60 days. You must also send business to those who send you leads.
What Industry can Become an Expert?
As an expert witness it might be difficult to figure out what industries you can apply yourself under. I am here to tell you that there are several different industries that are out there. You don’t have to put yourself under exactly one, you can have many different expertise. Scientists make regular appearances as an expert witness and the same with engineers. The most common experts are doctors, nurses, and paramedics. Marketing is an industry that is a process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market.
Another expertise is Human resources is one that I see a bunch of experts in. They typically are sought out for cases involving retail, law firms, warehouses, transportation, schools, construction, accounting, bookkeeping, hotels, industrial areas, healthcare, and factories. Communication experts are called upon a case on the issues involving voice messaging, voice processing, and voice switching systems. They also could testify on communications protocol and business communications. There aren’t many experts in Sales, some of them might consult on a case involving issues in sales channels, deceptive selling practices.
A huge industry that has a bunch of experts are in Medical Malpractice and they help the jury understand whether the plaintiff has met the claim of medical malpractice. Real Estate, Orthopedic surgery, computer forensics,emergency medicine, and accident reconstruction have the most experts in those industries. Construction is another industry that is popular for experts to go into. Their testimony helps to inform the trier of facts on issues related to the law of construction such as building delays.
