Discussion:Litigation Support: Demand for it?
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Discussion Forum Index --> Business Growth Community --> Litigation Support: Demand for it?
| 1 November 2009 | |
| Anybody here do litigation support? Is it very lucrative? Is there lots of work out there for it? | |
| 1 November 2009 | |
| In my opinion, this would generate more fees quickly, and it would involve some CFE type work to boot, without the need of getting the CFE right away.
I never took much divorce work over the years, and the cases I took were fairly simple. However, there were a couple of divorce lawyers in my building, and they would have these mounds of bills, investment statements, and all that to go through. For general practice smaller law firms, divorce is still a good area of law. There is also going to be quite a lot of litigation coming up over commercial property, but I don't know what form that's going to take yet: probably bankruptcy. You would probably have to work on some "smaller" matters like this, and get some experience before you could be called in on something like a personal injury or malpractice type case to help determine damages (and testify). Be worth studying though. Most states have a State Bar Magazine, and you could look into advertising in that. Also, the local bar associations sell ads. | |
| 2 November 2009 | |
| Crow what about 'business valuation' litigation support?
TexCPA 21:29, 1 November 2009 (CST) | |
| 2 November 2009 | |
| I've be looking into doing some Litigation support work. CrowJD, can you tell me how I can get into it. I was just going to send some letters out to Lawyers in my area. I found out about at this seminar they were talking about pre trail services. Please provide input. | |
| 2 November 2009 | |
| What I find really strange is the CPA expert witnesses that testify in regard to tax and talk about Federal tax law in state courts. This would be in divorce or probate, etc. Why would the attorneys who are experts in the law bring in non-attorneys to argue the law?
I came across a few tax attorneys that say they are often expert witnesses in tax law, so I guess they take the witness stand and speak under oath about their opinion of the law? Since they are lawyers, shouldn't they argue the law just like any other attorney? Even stranger, in the state courts we have the bizarre situation of juries deciding Federal tax law as if they were facts. | |
| 2 November 2009 | |
| when I've done expert testimony/depositions it was as to GAAP or tax issues or (a loooooong time ago) valuations, not arguing law........or picking apart the other side's expert. If you are good at it, your confidence/demeanor/and ESPECIALLY the ability to convey technical subjects in shirt-sleeve English without losing the technical nuances will occasionally sway the other side into quicker/more advantageous settlements. I've been told by two different attorneys that my depositions had this effect on opposition counsel. They also told me that I relished confrontation a little too much. Fortunately, I've been able to tone that down in recent years. | |
| 2 November 2009 | |
| Fletch, why should it not be marketing. You had to learn from someone or were you one of the first to just get it all by yourself. | |
| 2 November 2009 | |
| Lawyers bring in lawyers as expert witnesses where the law is arcane. Tax is nothing if not arcane. You guys eat, drink, and live tax so you don't realize just how profoundly ignorant (and therefore scared) the rest of us are. After all, tax involves (shudder) actual math, doesn't it?
There absolutely is a substantial market for good hired guns (aka accounting and valuation experts.) A word of caution, however: You need to maintain a non-litigation practice as well. A favored cross-examination technique for any sort of expert is to depict him as a "professional witness". It is entirely fair game to ask you what your fee was to testify and what percentage of your annual income comes from witness fees. If you really ARE a professional witness, the resulting picture of you will be that you are a testimony whore and that you sell your opinions to the highest bidder. In my experience most experts aren't whores (outside of certain mental health areas and the FBI crime lab) but the witness-as-whore impression, once established, is almost impossible to overcome. If you can't defend your opinion from this charge, your opinion becomes much less valuable to the lawyers that might retain you. | |
| 2 November 2009 | |
| Oh, no one mentioned credentials so for the sake of completeness, let me say that a CPA license should qualify any expert witness to testify as to financial or tax matters, even those areas of finance or tax where the CPA himself doesn't profess great expertise. Some people think that a Ph.D. helps with a jury so the local University business school profs get frequent calls to testify, a nice sideline for them, I'm sure.
I question the value of a Ph.D. for most purposes other than clinical psychology where you need it for initial licensure. Once you get your expert past the Judge and allowed to offer an expert opinion, the opinion really kind of stands on its own merits and the impression the expert makes while testifying. | |
| 2 November 2009 | |
| Are you being paid for this?
Yes, just like you. Except a whole lot less. | |
| 2 November 2009 | |
| The truth is, he expert witness is paid a lot more than the lawyer, at least on an hourly basis.
Piece of advice? Don't ever try to score points off the lawyer. Juries don't like a smart-ass and they do see very clearly that being paid to testify can taint the expert's opinion. Remember that you are on the lawyer's turf, not your own. A response like that will invite nasty consequences for your client because the lawyer is not offering evidence. You are. The lawyer's credibility is not at issue. Yours is. Scarcasm in response to a legitimate question always comes across as defensiveness. | |
| 2 November 2009 | |
| I suppose that is what "They also told me that I relished confrontation a little too much" meant. | |
| 2 November 2009 | |
| There are experts and there are experts. Sometimes a lawyer is just overwhelmed with sorting through the papers, and if it's a numbers based question, the lawyer is just looking for someone to get it in an understandable format; and perhaps do some simple testimony as to money flows, this type of thing.
Also, someone was asking about why the lawyer himself can't just be the expert. Well, the lawyer generally can't be a witness for his client's case, he's an advocate for his client, not a witness; and if a lawyer DOES end up as a witness in his client's case, he's usually failed his client as a lawyer. How to get into it? I mentioned some magazines etc. above. I was also suggesting this as a sideline, not a whole practice. | |
| 3 November 2009 | |
| NMexEA,
Piece of advice....... My experience differs from yours on nearly every point. For example, If ever asked in front of a jury, my reply would be slightly different. It would be "yes, just like YOUR expert." | |
