Midcareer pros with experience can make cases, cash as expert witnesses

So you know a lot about your field.

You understand how your industry works, you can reel off a list of key trends, and you can analyze why something went wrong on the job and how to fix it.

Well, there's a way you can use all that knowledge to help people outside your sector: Expert witnesses in areas ranging from construction to health care to hospitality are always in high demand among attorneys seeking professional testimony in courts and depositions. If you're midcareer and have a few specific personality traits, expert testimony could be ideal for you.

"It's good for professionals who want to try something different in their career, or for people who want to go into business for themselves and who have the qualifications and experience to back it up," said Joseph DeMaria, a 20-year U.S. Air Force safety veteran who owns Las Vegas-based Americana Safety Associates. The expert-witness company has 13 professionals nationwide, testifying in areas such as mining safety and risk management.

Rosalie Hamilton, a Florida-based expert-witness marketing, um, expert, said most of the clients she sees entering the world of professional legal testimony are at least middle-aged, and highly experienced in their fields.

"A lot of people, as they get older, want to slow down on their regular jobs," Hamilton said. "They've kind of got it handled. They've met all their objectives, and becoming an expert witness and consultant presents new challenges. It's intellectually stimulating, it requires the person to stay up-to-date in their field and it kind of gives them a new lease on life."

Expert-witness work can also pay pretty well. DeMaria, for example, said he makes $250 to $300 an hour analyzing a case and testifying in court, though he noted that expert-witness jobs don't provide a steady paycheck, as some months bring more activity than others.

Expert witnesses can typically expect to earn what they make on regular consulting jobs, Hamilton said. A doctor who earns $10,000 a day performing surgeries and seeing office patients will make roughly the same amount for a day spent testifying in a court or a deposition.

But that income doesn't come easily, and expert testimony isn't for everybody. It requires extensive credentials, a certain personality, strong communications skills and incredible amounts of patience and objectivity.

Start with those credentials. To begin with, you'll need to meet the minimum educational standards common in your area of expertise, including college degrees and continuing-education certificates.

Often, though, you'll need to go beyond training. Expert testimony isn't for someone fresh out of school, with little or no practical experience. Opposing attorneys will question your background and whether it's impressive enough to qualify you as an expert witness; if it's not up to snuff, judges can remove you from a case, said Barbara Holland, president and owner of H&L Realty and Management Co. in Las Vegas. Holland has published heavily and taught extensively across the country in the real estate and property-management fields, and that's made her a sought-after witness both in and out of state.

"You have to have that background experience. That's what makes the big difference -- not book learning, but the experience of being in the business of doing the work. That helps you become an expert," Holland said.

DeMaria said expert witnesses in his field typically have at least 20 years of work expertise.

"Your experience can't be strictly academic," he said. "You need experience in your field so you can back up what you say at trial, and so you are a credible witness."

On top of unassailable qualifications, you'll need great writing and public-speaking abilities to assemble a well-reasoned written case, and to handle rigorous cross-examination in depositions and on the witness stand.

Balance and objectivity are also essential. Experts say it's not their job to help their clients win -- rather, it's their job to evaluate the technical merits of a case. If an examination of documents and evidence reveals an attorney has a weak case or no case, you must be willing to tell him so, and walk away despite the time and effort you've invested in the case.

Nor can you wilt easily under pressure. Some depositions can get downright hostile, Holland said, and trials can bring intensive, and sometimes personal, cross-questioning of your credentials and your findings.

Finally, you'll need to learn how the judicial process functions, and how depositions and court testimony work, Hamilton said.

Still interested?

Serving as an expert witness can prove highly rewarding, offering interesting breaks from routine consulting and working the mind in fresh ways.

For Holland, who's worked on cases ranging from property-management misconduct accusations to a double rape that attorneys alleged happened partly because of building defects, the biggest benefit of expert testimony is the mental rigor it demands. From analyzing documents and putting them in an order that tells a story to brushing up on legal minutiae, expert testimony exercises your thinking skills.

"It allows you to use your brain a little differently from getting a phone call that a roof is leaking, or someone's dog is running around," Holland said. "It brings my personal work to a much higher intellectual level."

Added DeMaria, "I like the challenge that every case presents. Generally, no two cases are identical. Sometimes, that's very challenging, but it's also rewarding."

Both also agreed on expert testimony's major downside: filtering through files and files of documents.

Holland worked 35 hours straight over Labor Day Weekend, "doing nothing but looking at a computer" as she read and analyzed paperwork for a case. And it typically takes as many as 20 hours of advance work for DeMaria to read all discovery documents and prepare an expert report.

If those challenges don't deter you, here's how to get started on positioning yourself as an expert witness.

First, consider whether your area of specialty is in demand.

Because personal injury and medical malpractice cases rank among the most common types of lawsuits, there's a constant need for doctors to vouch for the severity of an injury, accountants and economists to discuss lost income and engineers to explain how an incident happened, Hamilton said.

But don't be too discouraged if those three areas aren't your focus: Hamilton said expert-witness topics range from "the ridiculous to the sublime." She's seen requests for experts in areas ranging from potato-processing to bubble gum. Going forward, she expects big demand for experts in banking and real estate, as consumers and businesses take to the courts to litigate recession-related losses.

Once you know you occupy a niche that needs filling, position yourself on expert-witness websites such as JurisPro.com and Experts.com, Hamilton recommended. Also, invest in building a consulting website that's optimized to lead attorneys to you when they search for experts online.

And no matter what, stay objective.

"Everything an expert witness says, writes and does can be used against him in a court of law," Hamilton said. "Bullet-proof your materials so they're not flung in your face in court. You can't make wild statements about how you can help their side win."

Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison @reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512.