01 Jan Court Is In Session Five lessons I learned from being an expert witness
If the thought of being called as an expert witness gives you the jitters because you’ve watched too many Law and Order episodes and read too many John Grisham novels, it may help to remember that no one else in the courtroom possesses your expertise. Having had only one experience testifying 20 years ago, I was recently requested to testify in Superior Court regarding a vocational assessment that I completed three years ago. Like so many other subpoenas previously received, I anticipated the case would settle. This one didn’t. When it became evident that I would be called as an expert witness, I realized the best approach would be to stop recalling all the courtroom dramas I had ever seen and start preparing. I dug up the file in question, reviewed academic literature on the topic of expert testimony and connected with expert colleagues.