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Hi everybody.

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I wanna take some time, uh, to follow up

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with Dave's talk on, uh, his perspectives in terms

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of being an expert witness,

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and give you some perspectives about

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how lawyers look at expert witnesses

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and what we expect from you and you can expect from us.

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Um, and especially, um, obviously

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as I'm a plaintiff's medical malpractice attorney, uh,

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perspective from that side as well.

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So, in terms of how we look at your

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responsibilities as an expert witness, we're really looking

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for someone who's going to present well to a jury,

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as Dave I know, talked about,

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but I want you to be confident, personal, personable,

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and, you know, have, have you be somebody

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that the jury can relate with as you're talking to them.

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You also, however, have to be able to have the ability

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to make firm decisions and to stick by them.

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Now, if there's evidence presented, obviously,

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which causes your opinion to change, that's fine.

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But when you've, you know, by the time we've gotten

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to deposition and particularly to trial,

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you should have had all of the information.

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You've reviewed it, we know what your opinions are,

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and then we expect you to stick by those opinions.

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Um, in terms of being an expert witness.

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And Dave talked about what the a CR says in terms

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of an obligation.

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Um, but I find that there are certain individuals

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who are good at doing this and want to do this

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and others not so much, and that's fine as well.

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Um, but if you are going to do this, uh,

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you've gotta be willing to involve yourself in what is adv,

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obviously an adversarial process,

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and know that going in some people are, are suited to that

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and some people aren't.

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I work with a lot of, uh, physicians from across the country

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and every specialty that you can imagine,

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and, um, a lot of 'em just really enjoy doing it.

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I will say that the one thing I am told all the time

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by my expert witnesses is that they do it in large part.

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They enjoy the process,

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but they tell me that they learn so much from the process.

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Uh, so there's that. Uh, the other thing is you need

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to be able to really embrace your role as a teacher,

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as an educator, uh, not only for the attorney

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or attorneys that you're working with, but for the jury.

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Um, your job is going to be in the courtroom to partly, uh,

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explain to the jury the, the setup for what's going on here.

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And we have to do that largely through you

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because I can't testify.

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I can ask you the questions,

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but I'm going to need you to turn to the jury, look at them,

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and be willing to explain the process.

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And of course, we help you with that.

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We give you the props and that type of thing,

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but that's also a role that's very integral

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to this entire system.

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Um, and then finally, one of the things

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that you've really got to be able

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to do when you're on the stand is defend your opinions.

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And by the time, again, we get to deposition

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and to trial, you should be well prepared for that.

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You know what's coming at you.

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Your attorney hopefully has worked with you

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and told you the questions

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that the opposing counsel is going to ask, as well

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as the questions that they're going

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to ask you to set this up.

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So that's, um, that's really an important piece of this

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and hopefully you've been well prepped, uh, you know,

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to get you to that point, um, moving forward,

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as Dave talked about, I'm not gonna, uh,

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spend too much time on this,

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but you should be willing to work for both sides.

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It's important for your objectivity and for your bias.

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Um, I think, as I mentioned briefly, I will not hire someone

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who only does plaintiff's work even though I'm a plaintiff's

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attorney, because they're, they're just not credible.

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They're just not credible. And I do find

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that far more often on the defense side.

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So a lot of lawyers that put witnesses,

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expert witnesses on the stand that only do defense work,

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quite frankly, I think

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that they're an easy mark in that regard.

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So just something to consider, it is your job

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as an expert witness to objectively review the evidence

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and form opinions based on the facts.

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You're not looking at the case and looking at the outcome

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and saying, gee, you know, the mom of three kids died,

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and the so therefore I want no, your, your job is

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to objectively look at the defined area

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that you've been tasked with

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and form opinions that you can, that are solid

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and that you can back up.

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Um, having said that, and we did talk about that somewhat

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and I'll talk about that a little bit more in the,

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in the next talk, is that your opinions as you do this work,

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do not have, they can be,

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but they do not have to be to a hundred percent.

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The standard is to a reasonable degree

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of medical probability, which is just more likely than not,

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which means it's a pretty solid opinion.

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You've looked at everything

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and it is your, this is your opinion.

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Um, in order to do that,

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and you will be tested on this, you do have

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to have a solid current knowledge of the subject matter.

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And Dave talked about the fact that you have

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to go back sometimes in time and look what was available.

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Um, but the other thing that can happen is you do have

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to have a current knowledge

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because that gets into the area of causation, right?

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If there's new evidence that's come out that something did

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or didn't cause it, you have to be aware of that.

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So a solid understanding of the medicine at the time

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of the event as well as currently.

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Um, and again, the, uh, you have to be able

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to articulate and they will ask you at some point, probably

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during your deposition, doctor,

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what is the standard of care here?

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And they're trying to trip you up.

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So you want to be able, you wanna have that memorized

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and know what it is going forward.

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It's what a, a physician, uh, you know,

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a reasonable physician would do under the same

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or similar circumstances.

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And that's, um, you know, you can spout that off.

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Then you move forward to the next one.

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They're done testing you on that. Um, hey,

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Um, can I interject one thing about your

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bullet number three?

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And that is that a lot of times the expert witness

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will be given the facts from the lawyer

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that is hiring them.

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And I, I have been fooled by a biased view

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of the facts that have been given to me by the lawyer

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as opposed to going into the medical record

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and deriving the facts myself.

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Sometimes the lawyers will overlook something intentionally

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or unintentionally that may change my opinion

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based on my medical knowledge,

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not necessarily learn the medical knowledge.

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So don't, what I would say is one of the pitfalls

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of being a medical expert is do not trust that the

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review or summary of the case given to you by the lawyer,

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uh, includes all of the information that you need

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to provide your opinions.

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So, uh, following up on that, I would say that

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that's a great point, and that is that does happen.

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Um, but let me tell you what I tell my experts if

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that situation arises, you know, I give them everything

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that they believe that they will need to review

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and form their opinions about.

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I tell them, if you feel

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that there is something else out there that

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that should be there that you would like to review,

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if we can get it, please let me know.

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We will absolutely get it for you.

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But another thing that um, happens,

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and it happens frequently in these cases, is

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that I am sharing information with an expert based on

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working with other experts, my knowledge of the plaintiff,

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my knowledge of the area.

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And I will say to them, you need to have this information.

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I don't have a written document for you.

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I can tell you the plaintiff is having

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these signed symptoms.

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This is what's going on with the plaintiff.

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And I can, I can give you, you know,

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this additional information, addit information, um,

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but it may not be in what you would consider

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to be like a medical record form.

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And here's what I tell the, the, uh, expert is

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that if you are asked about that

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or if you are challenged on that, you absolutely respond

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by saying, that information was

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provided to me by plaintiff's counsel, right?

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That, um, and I have relied on that.

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If it's not accurate

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or you've got additional information for me to look at,

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please let me know and I'll be happy

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to tell you if it alters my opinions.

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But I do that because sometimes we don't have

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that additional information yet I'm able

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to back it up in a non-medical record form.

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So I think that that's important for you to do

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because one of the things we'll talk about is,

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and as Dave mentioned, your testimony follows you.

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And I am very careful with my experts to

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just stringently guard their credibility

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and their ability to testify going forward in a way

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that's not going to get them impeached.

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And any attorney that you work

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with on either side should be willing to do

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that and do that.

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So that's my two son's worth on that.