Being an Expert Witness – Why it is Such a Lonely Job!
What is an expert witness? He or she is a professional that has been chosen to assist a matter in court by clarifying certain issues of a complex or technical nature so that the court can understand the issues involved. For example, a forensic accountant may be asked to investigate and unravel a complex fraud and write a report so that the court can understand where the money has gone and how the victim was tricked.
As an expert accountant, the forensic accountant is allowed to write a report or even stand up in court to give an opinion. This is completely different to other witnesses that are called upon to give evidence of things that they know or believe to be facts. The difference between factual and opinion evidence is significant.
Giving evidence of facts is easy – that is unless you are not telling the truth to protect yourself or somebody else. You simply answer the questions put to you by counsel the best you can. However, if you are an expert witness you will be giving your opinion and opinions can differ quite a lot! At the end if the day if two experts are called on opposing sides and each gives a very different opinion, then the court is going to be swayed by the expert who seems to be the most credible.
Being a credible expert witness is the hard part of the job. It is fairly easy to build up the experience and gain the credentials that give you at least a veneer of credibility, but it is how you perform in the witness box that will decide you credibility to the court in the particular matter of the day. Opposing counsel will try his hardest to make the expert witness look stupid and lose credibility – the expert witness, whether they be a forensic accountant or a forensic scientist, must be ready for this.
A clever and practiced barrister or defence counsel is a cunning animal, but the expert witness must keep his cool, stick to the facts that support his opinion and if ever caught making a mistake, quickly admit the point and thereby diffuse the moment. Yes it can be extremely lonely for an expert witness standing in the witness box with all eyes on him and a lead counsel out to destroy his reputation! As with any other job practice makes perfect, but fortunately most matters settle before the expert is called to give evidence.
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