Mott MacDonald has for many years provided an independent
technical support service to both the legal and insurance
professions. An expert witness is a person who is a specialist in a
subject, often technical, who may present his/her expert opinion
without having been a witness to any occurrence relating to the
lawsuit or criminal case.
It is an exception to the rule against giving an opinion in trial,
provided that the expert is qualified by evidence of his/her
expertise, training and special knowledge. If the expertise is
challenged, the attorney for the party calling the expert must make
a showing of the necessary background through questions in court,
and the trial judge has discretion to qualify the witness, to rule
that he/she is not an expert, or to rule that he/she is an expert
on limited subjects.
Experts are usually paid handsomely for their services and may be
asked by the opposition the amount they are receiving for their
work on the case. In most jurisdictions, both sides must exchange
the names and addresses of proposed experts to allow pre-trial
depositions.
