How to Get Paid to Be an Expert Witness

Do you have years of experience in a specific field? You may be able to earn $200 or more per hour as an expert witness. Experts in anything – literally anything – can make $200 or more per hour as expert witnesses. And you might not even have to leave your home.

“Two hundred dollars an hour is on the low end of what (expert witnesses) are asking for,” said Dan Rubin, national business development manager for Round Table Groupan agency for finding expert witnesses. “We have experts who charge €400, €500 and €600 per hour, depending on their expertise. If you have a unique specialty, you can earn even more.”

What is an expert witness?

Anyone who has seen a legal drama probably has an idea of ​​what expert witnesses do. In short, they provide attorneys and juries with detailed background information to put important facts into context. This analysis often plays a crucial role in what happens next.

For example, in the movie ‘My Cousin Vinny’, there is a mechanic (played by Marisa Tomei) uses her vast knowledge of cars to explain how the tire marks at the crime scene could not have been made by the suspect’s car. Her testimony gives the jury reason to acquit.

Behind the scenes

But while movies make us aware of how expert testimony can influence a jury, most of the work of expert witnesses is done behind the scenes, long before cases go to trial.

Experts are often hired early in a trial to review files and provide their opinions on what happened. These reviews can cause lawyers to drop or settle cases – or cause them to increase their monetary demands.

The vast majority of the expert witness’s work is therefore done at home or at a law firm. This involves assessing files, consulting by telephone and writing reports. It only occurs in the relatively rare event that a trial occurs when an expert witness is called to testify in preliminary depositions or in court.

How it works

Let’s say an attorney is working on a medical malpractice case. The case is filed because a spinal surgery went wrong and the plaintiff is left with permanent injuries. The lawyer wants to know whether the injury is his client’s fault.

This attorney would seek out other seasoned spine surgeons to serve as expert witnesses. The attorney would give his expert witness the notes describing what happened during the operation. The expert witness checks whether normal procedures were followed and whether any complications occurred during the procedure. The expert would then report to the lawyer with an opinion on whether the doctor was guilty and why.

Assuming the expert believes the doctor is at fault, the attorney may choose to settle the case. If the attorney chooses to settle, he may retain other experts to assist in determining a reasonable settlement amount. In this case, the attorney would likely seek out a human resources professional who could estimate the value of the plaintiff’s lost wages. And perhaps even a financial expert, who can ‘discount’ the lost wage value over the course of the claimant’s working life.

Honest and detailed

Of course, the lawyer and his client can also decide not to reach a settlement. In that case, he may look for another seasoned surgeon to back up his claim that the doctor was not at fault.

As tempting as it is to come up with an opinion that agrees with the person who hired you, that is not what expert witnesses are allowed to do. Expert opinions should be honest and detailed. Indeed, voicing a conflicting opinion can do more harm than good. Why? Because your conflicting opinion may result in your party choosing to appear in court. And if your testimony is easily impeached, your side loses. Losing in court can be a very expensive mistake.

Experts in everything

Although you need years of experience to serve as an expert witness, you can specifically have experience in almost anything: stamp collecting, sports, engineering, medicine, accounting, law enforcement, media, hospitality, etc.

“You really have to be qualified in your field,” Rubin says. “But that field could be almost anything.”

Rubin says his company has brought in athletic directors to talk about sports officiating in a personal injury case and bartenders to talk about when they cut off a drunk customer. They have hired engineers to talk about patent infringement and medical professionals to talk about malpractice and wrongful death cases.

Celia Guo, vice president of expert search at Expert Instituteanother agency for finding expert witnesses. says they are getting requests for farmers, software developers and builders. However, the vast majority of cases they handle involve personal injury and medical malpractice. So many more doctors, nurses, and public safety specialists (for slip and fall cases) are called in than others.

Requirements

There are only a few requirements to register as an expert witness. The most important thing is that you have many years of experience in whatever topic you choose to serve as an expert witness. And that you are a respected member of that community. For example, if you are a law enforcement officer, you want to be in good standing and not be subject to disciplinary action. Ideally, you may have reached a level where you are training or teaching others in your field.

Rubin says it’s relatively rare for them to hire experts under the age of 50 for this reason. Someone who has been in this position for 10 years is simply less experienced and more credible than someone with 25 years, who has climbed the ranks, learned every aspect of the job and gained a lot of industry fame. However, there are exceptions to this rule in rapidly evolving areas such as social media and AI.

Guo says it’s also important to be aware of your skills. There is therefore a greater chance that you will be called in as an expert if you are still working or have just retired.

However, you must also be able to communicate comfortably, both orally and in writing. And you must have the confidence and qualifications to survive hostile cross-examinations in court.

Pay

How much do you get paid? You determine your own rates. And while expert witness search firms may suggest “average” rates for your specialty, experts generally make $200 or more per hour, Rubin says.

If you earn more in your day job, which is possible given the amount of experience and skills expert witnesses typically have, Guo suggests setting your expert witness rates slightly higher than your normal hourly rate.

Expert Institute also suggests that you charge more for appearing in court than for conducting case evaluations or preparing written reports. This is simply because it is more difficult to plan and attend court hearings. Case reviews and reports can often be done in your spare time from the comfort of your home.

Frequency of performances

How often are you likely to get an expert witness? The answer varies from ‘once in a while’ to ‘regularly’. It really depends on what you’re doing and whether your specialty plays an important role in the procedure.

Guo says Expert Institute has some experts who get appearances every month, while others are only called once or twice a year. Most experts on their registry are contacted at least once for an appearance, she adds. However, whether they are ultimately hired depends on the law firm and not on the Expert Institute.

Rubin adds that experts with prior court experience are in greater demand than experts who have never served as expert witnesses before. That’s simply because if you’ve survived previous challenges in court that damaged your credibility, you’re likely to survive again. So you are a lower risk choice than an expert who has never been tested in court.

That said, some great experts are simply not in high demand because their specialties are not litigious. Round Table Group once called in an expert witness, a veterinarian specialized in equine ophthalmology, for example. While that expert did an excellent job, they have not had another case that required that specific skill.

Improving your chances

That said, you can increase your chances of getting expert witness appearances in several ways.

One of these is simply registering with various agencies to search for expert witnesses. Three recommended by SideHusl.com Are Expert Institute, Round Table Group And Gerson Lehrman Group. All three allow you to register for free and build a detailed profile. You also set your own rates and don’t pay any commission to these sites if they find you a gig. All three sites charge customers a finder’s fee, rather than passing on the costs of matchmaking to the expert witness. GLG also helps its experts find other types of consultancy assignments.

(The only expert witness search list we don’t recommend is JurisPro. The reason: They make you pay an annual fee of almost $400 to list yourself in their directory. Since there is no guarantee that you will get an expert witness in any given year, we don’t think the fee is worth it.)

Be sure to upload your CV and describe your experience in detail. The more the search agencies know about you, the greater the chance that they can match you with suitable vacancies.

It also helps to stay informed about what’s going on in your field. For example, if you are a structural engineer and happen to know that a local building developer is being sued for construction defects, you can inform your expert witness of the lawsuit and tell them how you can help.

“We have experts who come to us and almost do the business development for us,” Rubin says. “They call and say, ‘I just want to let you know that these cases have been filed and I can really use my expertise here.’ That’s a great way to go.”

Kristof is the editor of SideHusl.coman independent website that assesses money-making opportunities in the gig economy.