Starting out as an expert witness

As an expert witness, you will be asked by lawyers to provide a report setting out your opinion to help a court come to a decision on an issue in dispute. You may also be asked to come to court to justify your opinion under cross examination. If you are negligent in the way you came to your opinion, you can be sued. You can also be sued on the contract with the lawyer if you do not do what you were asked, for example you do not send documentation in good time. The courts also have to make sure that the costs involved in taking a case are proportional to the amount in dispute so for example if the claim is for £10,000 then the legal costs cannot be £20,000. The court will limit what the lawyers and expert witnesses