Successful Expert Testimony

A major revision of the landmark book on expert testimony Feder’s Succeeding as an Expert Witness, Successful Expert Testimony, Fifth Edition highlights the book’s value to both attorneys and expert witnesses in promoting effective, impactful courtroom testimony. The book outlines the role of expert testimony in a trial, including explanations of methods, testing, and science, the legal process, and an overview of the roles of each player. Succeeding as an expert witness requires a basic understanding of who and what experts are and what role they play in rendering their opinions within the courts. The new edition has been fully updated to present key information on the most vital topics, including the deposition, a discussion of false or unsupported testimony, adherence to scientific principles, and direct and cross-examination testimony of expert witnesses. Each chapter includes key terms, review questions, and thought-provoking discussion questions for further consideration of the topics addressed. Given many high profile cases and increasing incidents of misconduct, this edition focuses heavily on the role of ethics in expert testimony and forensic practice. The full revised chapter on ethics, covers unethical conduct of forensic witnesses, admissibility of expert testimony, inter-professional relations, abuse of and by experts, and forensic professional codes of ethics. Offering useful career insights and established trial-tested tips, forensic scientist Max M. Houck and attorney Christine Funk update renowned lawyer Harold A. Feder’s classic book. Successful Expert Testimony, Fifth Edition serves as an ideal reference for forensic science students entering the work force—in labs and investigative positions—in addition to serving as a crucial resource for more experienced civil, private, and testifying experts in all disciplines.

The testimony of an expert witness can lead to success or failure in cases that hinge on the presentation’s impact on a jury. Effective Expert Witnessing, Fifth Edition: Practices for the 21st Century explores the fundamentals of litigation, trial preparation, courtroom presentation, and the business of expert witnessing. Extensively updated to reflect new developments since the last edition, it provides practical advice enabling expert witnesses and attorneys to maximize the effectiveness of their expert testimony. The Fifth Edition includes three new chapters. The first uses a hypothetical case study to explore expert witness immunity and issues related to professional malpractice and civil liability. In a chapter on psychology and the art of expert persuasion, noted social psychologist and witness preparation specialist Ann T. Greeley reveals the psychology of juries, discusses what makes an expert effective, and provides tips for conveying effective testimony through verbal and nonverbal behavior and graphics and technology. The final chapter surveys nine of the worst mistakes an expert can make and provides tips on how to avoid them. Accompanying the book are downloadable resources in which Dr. Matson introduces video clips demonstrating effective and ineffective expert testimony at deposition and trial. The book and supplemental downloadable resources provide robust strategies ensuring that expert witnesses have the best possible advantage in presenting testimony that is credible, persuasive, and compelling.

The A to Z Guide to Expert Witnessing is the comprehensive work on expert witnessing. The topics covered include civil procedure, evidence, quali?cations, CV writing, forming and expressing opinions, report writing, testifying skills, marketing, fee setting, billing, collections, ethics, privileges, discovery, avoiding abuse and much more. It features 24 concisely written chapters, 26 appendices, hundreds of examples with easy to read summary head notes, priceless practice pointers and a detailed index. You will learn: * How to best connect with and persuade a jury * How to market yourself professionally and cost-effectively * Premium fee-setting, billing and collection techniques * Relevant rules of civil procedure and evidence, Testifying skills * Expert witness risk management, How to handle abuse by attorneys * How to maintain high ethical standards * How to bullet-proof your CV and written reports * How to meet challenges under Daubert * The limits of discovery and privilege * and much, much more Features: In the appendices you'll ?nd invaluable resources, which include: *A compendium of expert witness referral organizations, *A list of online and print directories, *A list of legal journals and other publications, *A list of forensic organizations, *A list of bar associations and other legal associations, *Model expert fee schedules, *Model fee agreements, *Model bills, and *A fee survey: what other experts are charging for their time

Simply put, the primary role of the expert witness is to make clear and simple a complex technical or scientific issue. In practice, there are negative and positive aspects that must be considered before committing to the role. In a major case suing for big dollar amounts witnesses can expect to have their life history spread out like a roadmap for

As the first major revision since 2000 of the landmark handbook on expert testimony, this fourth edition provides the crucial, insider information that today‘s testifying forensic experts want and need to not only survive, but thrive in deposition and court testimony.Comprehensively reorganized to accommodate greater breadth and scope, this edition

A technical expert and a lawyer provide practical approaches for IT professionals who need to get up to speed on the role of an expert witness and how testimony works. Includes actual transcripts and case studies.

Forensic Testimony: Science, Law and Expert Evidence—favored with an Honorable Mention in Law & Legal Studies at the Association of American Publishers' 2015 PROSE Awards—provides a clear and intuitive discussion of the legal presentation of expert testimony. The book delves into the effects, processes, and battles that occur in the presentation of opinion and scientific evidence by court-accepted forensic experts. It provides a timely review of the United States Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE) regarding expert testimony, and includes a multi-disciplinary look at the strengths and weaknesses in forensic science courtroom testimony. The statutes and the effects of judicial uses (or non-use) of the FRE, Daubert, Kumho, and the 2009 NAS Report on Forensic Science are also included. The presentation expands to study case law, legal opinions, and studies on the reliability and pitfalls of forensic expertise in the US court system. This book is an essential reference for anyone preparing to give expert testimony of forensic evidence. Honorable Mention in the 2015 PROSE Awards in Law & Legal Studies from the Association of American Publishers A multi-disciplinary forensic reference examining the strengths and weaknesses of forensic science in courtroom testimony Focuses on forensic testimony and judicial decisions in light of the Federal Rules of Evidence, case interpretations, and the NAS report findings Case studies, some from the Innocence Project, assist the reader in distinguishing good testimony from bad

Paul Zwier and David Malone examine the rules of evidence and ethics that govern the relationship of experts to lawyers, experts to juries, and experts to courts, all in a manner that resolves these issues.