What Does An Expert Witness Do?
When people ask me what I do for work and I respond that I am an expert witness, the most common follow up question I get–after a confused look–is “What does an expert witness do?”
Expert witnesses are a somewhat unknown, but important part of our legal system in the United States, and a lot of legal systems around the world. Whether it is a criminal case, or a civil case, there are often complicated technical questions that need answering. Questions which lawyers, judges, and juries would struggle to understand without help from someone who has knowledge, training, or experience in that field. That is where expert witnesses come in. They help educate the triers of the law about the technical aspects of the case, such as explaining how a machine was designed improperly for the task it was being used for, or how the operator of a machine didn’t follow proper procedures which led to his/her injuries.
There are as many types of expert witnesses as there are fields in the workplace. To name only a few, there are medical experts that testify about the types of injuries someone has sustained and the causes for them, there are engineering experts that testify about why a structure failed and fell down, there are forklift experts that testify about forklift design, regulations, and safety procedures, and there are safety experts who testify about proper safety procedures and how they were, or were not being followed. The list goes on and is quite long. Basically if someone has special knowledge or experience on a particular topic, they could be used as an expert witness in a lawsuit.
I am a mechanical engineering, heavy equipment, and safety expert myself. I work on personal injury, wrongful death, and product liability cases involving machines and heavy machinery. The work I do often includes inspecting an accident scene or a piece of equipment that was involved in an incident where someone was injured. It also includes a lot of document review, research, testing, and report writing. In the later stages of the work I often give a deposition, which means lawyers from the opposing side(s) get to ask me questions about the opinions I have about the case. If the case goes to trial then I testify on the stand at trial as well.
In my journey since becoming an expert I have found that it is very fulfilling work. It can definitely be stressful at times, but those times are few. Most of the time I get to learn new things, travel all over the country, investigate interesting cases, and meet some amazingly talented and smart people. While it is sad that these cases usually come about because someone was injured or killed, it is also interesting to see our justice system at work helping provide some recompense for those who have suffered.
So now that you know what an expert witness does, at least in a general sense, what do you think? Would you like to be an expert witness? If you are an expert witness, do you agree with my description of the job?
About the Author: Cameron Orr has worked as a consulting engineer for over 17 years. He has also worked as an expert witness for over 9 years. He has been retained on over 70 cases, testified in deposition 11 times, and testified at trial one time. His expertise is heavy equipment and machines, such as forklifts, boom lifts, cranes, saws, presses, and the like. If you need an expert witness for case involving machinery of any kind, contact Sambria Engineering and Expert Services and talk with Cameron. He will be honest and upfront with you about your case.