Earn $200 or More Per Hour as an Expert Witness

Do you have got years of experience in a selected field? It’s possible you’ll give you the chance to earn $200 or more per hour as an authority witness. Experts in anything — literally anything — can earn $200 or more per hour as expert witnesses. And you would possibly not even need to depart your home.

“Two-hundred dollars an hour is on the low end of what [expert witnesses] charge,” says Dan Rubin, national business development manager for Round Table Group, an authority witness search firm. “We have now experts who charge $400, $500 and $600 an hour, depending on their expertise. If you have got a novel speciality, you may earn much more.”

What’s an authority witness?

Anyone who has watched a legal drama probably has some idea of what expert witnesses do. Briefly, they supply lawyers and juries with detailed background information to assist put necessary facts into context. This evaluation often plays a pivotal role in what happens next.

For instance, within the film “My Cousin Vinny,” a mechanic (played by Marisa Tomei) uses her vast knowledge of cars to clarify how the tire marks on the crime scene couldn’t have been made by the defendant’s automobile. Her testimony gives the jury reason to acquit.

Behind the scenes

Yet while movies make us aware of how expert witness testimony might sway a jury, most expert witness work is finished behind the scenes long before cases go to trial.

Experts are sometimes hired early in litigation to review case files and opine on what happened. These reviews could cause attorneys to drop or settle cases — or cause them to extend their monetary demands.

Thus, the overwhelming majority of expert witness work is finished at home or in an attorney’s office. It involves reviewing files, consulting over the phone and writing reports. It’s only within the fairly rare case that goes to trial when an authority witness is named to testify in pre-trial depositions or in court.

How it really works

Let’s say a defense attorney is working on a medical malpractice case. The case is filed because a spinal surgery has gone awry and the plaintiff is left with everlasting injury. The defense lawyer desires to know whether the injury was his client’s fault.

This lawyer would search for other seasoned spinal surgeons to function an authority witness. The lawyer would supply his expert witness the case notes that describe what happened through the surgery. The expert witness might be seeking to see whether normal procedures were followed, in addition to any complications that got here up through the procedure. The expert would then report back to the attorney with an opinion on whether the doctor was at fault and why.

Assuming the expert believes the doctor was at fault, the defense attorney may opt to settle the case. If the lawyer chooses to settle, he may enlist other experts to assist establish an affordable settlement amount. On this case, the lawyer would probably search out a human resource official, who could estimate the worth of the plaintiff’s lost wages. And, possibly even a financial expert, who can “discount” that lost wage value over the course of the plaintiff’s work life.

Honest and detailed

After all, the lawyer and his client might resolve to not settle, too. In that case, he may look for one more seasoned surgeon to support his claim that the doctor was not at fault.

Nonetheless tempting it is perhaps to provide you with an opinion that agrees with the one that’s hired you, that’s not what expert witnesses are alleged to do. Expert opinions should be honest and detailed. Indeed, weighing in with a conflicted opinion can do more harm than good. Why? Because your conflicted opinion might cause your side to decide on to go to trial. And, in case your testimony is well impeached, your side loses. Losing in court could be a very expensive mistake.

Experts in anything

Notably, while you would like years of experience to function an authority witness, your experience may very well be in almost anything — stamp collecting, sports, engineering, medicine, accounting, law enforcement, media, hospitality, etc.

“That you must be truly qualified in your field,” says Rubin. “But that field may very well be almost anything.”

Rubin says his firm has enlisted athletic directors to speak about sports supervision in a private injury case and bartenders to speak about after they’d cut off an inebriated customer. They’ve hired engineers to speak about patent infringement and medical professionals to speak about malpractice and wrongful death cases.

Celia Guo, vice chairman of expert search at Expert Institute, one other expert witness search firm. says that they get requests for farmers, software developers and builders. Nonetheless, the overwhelming majority of cases they handle involve personal injury and medical malpractice. Thus, doctors, nurses, and public safety specialists (for slip and fall cases) are enlisted way over others.

Requirements

There are only just a few requirements to enroll as an authority witness. An important is that you have got a few years of experience in whatever topic you select to function an authority witness. And that you just are a well-regarded member of that community. In case you are a law enforcement officer, for instance, you ought to be in good standing and haven’t any disciplinary actions against you. Ideally, you would possibly have reached a level where you train others or lecture in your area of specialty.

Rubin says it’s relatively rare for them to enlist experts under the age of fifty for this very reason. Someone who has been on the job for 10 years is solely less experienced and credible than someone with 25 years, who has climbed the ranks, learned every aspect of the job, and won industry acclaim. Nonetheless, there are exceptions to this rule in rapidly evolving areas, like social media and AI.

Guo says it’s also necessary to be current together with your skills. Thus, you’re more prone to be enlisted as an authority whenever you’re still working or have only recently retired.

Nonetheless, you should even be comfortable communicating each verbally and in writing. And you should have the boldness and credentials to survive hostile courtroom cross-examinations.

Pay

How much do you receives a commission? You set your personal rates. And, while expert witness search firms might suggest “average” rates in your specialty, experts generally earn $200 or more an hour, says Rubin.

In case you earn greater than that at your day job, which is feasible given the quantity of experience and skill expert witnesses typically have, Guo suggests that you just set your expert witness rates at a slight premium to your normal hourly rate.

Expert Institute also suggests that you just charge more for appearing in court than for performing case evaluations or preparing written reports. That’s just because court hearings are more trouble to schedule and attend. Case evaluations and reports often might be done from the comfort of your property in your free time.

Gig frequency

How often are you prone to get an authority witness gig? The reply ranges from “once in a blue moon” to “recurrently.” It really depends upon what you do and whether your specialty plays a vital role in litigation.

Guo says Expert Institute has some experts who get gigs every month, while others are called on just a couple of times a 12 months. Most experts of their registry are contacted for a gig at the very least once, she adds. Nonetheless, whether or not they’re ultimately hired is as much as the hiring law firm, not Expert Institute.

Rubin adds that experts who’ve previous experience in court are in higher demand that those that have never served as expert witnesses before. That’s just because when you’ve survived previous courtroom challenges to your credibility, you’re prone to survive again. Thus, you’re a lower-risk pick than an authority who has never been courtroom tested.

That said, some great experts are simply not in high demand because their specialties aren’t litigious. Round Table Group once enlisted an authority witness who was a veterinarian specializing in horse ophthalmology, as an illustration. While that expert did an important job, they’ve yet to have one other case that required that specific skill.

Improving your odds

That said, you may improve your odds of getting expert witness gigs in several ways.

Considered one of these is solely to enroll with several expert witness search firms. Three really helpful by SideHusl.com are Expert Institute, Round Table Group and Gerson Lehrman Group. All three assist you to register and construct an in depth profile without cost. You furthermore may set your personal rates and pay no commissions to those sites after they find you a gig. All three sites charge clients a finder’s fee, moderately than passing on the fee of matchmaking to the expert witness. GLG also helps its experts find other sorts of consulting gigs.

(The one expert witness search directory that we don’t recommend is JurisPro. The explanation: They make you pay an annual fee of virtually $400 to list yourself of their directory. Since there’s no guarantee that you just’ll get an authority witness gig in any given 12 months, we expect the fee shouldn’t be value paying.)

Remember to upload your resume and be detailed about your experience. The more the search firms find out about you, the more likely they’ll match you with appropriate opportunities.

It also helps to maintain current in what’s happening in your field. If, for instance, you’re a structural engineer and occur to know that a neighborhood constructing developer is getting sued for construction defects, you may notify your expert witness search firm concerning the lawsuit — and tell them the way you might help.

“We have now experts who will come to us and almost do business development for us,” says Rubin. “They’ll call and say, ‘I just need to let that these cases were filed and I could really lend my expertise here.’ That’s an important technique to go.”