If attorney Joseph Leslie wants to hire me to serve as an expert
witness for a recently accepted engagement, then there would be a
contract that would need to be signed concerning some rules and
regulations. If he wants me to be an expert witness then he would
have to pay me up front, a set fee. One major red flag when it comes
to deciding whether or not to accept an engagement would be the
pay and if the lawyer pays within a timely manner. “When lawyers ask
experts to keep their fees low because a case is “small,” the expert
faces a magnified risk of not being paid. Any time an expert feels
uneasy about accepting a case, the expert will usually be well served
by trusting his instincts and declining the offer” (ExpertPages, 2022).
The factors that I would consider in deciding whether or not I would
accept the engagement would be the amount that I would get paid,
how many days I would have to testify, and what specifically I would
be testifying for or against. Time is money and it is relevant that I be
paid for expertise, training, and knowledge. I would also have to
consider what the expert final option is going to be, gather all the
facts and data that will support my opinion, check the list of any
previous cases that this attorney has taken to court and what the
outcome was.
I would probably not accept this engagement because of the way that
the attorney treats his employees and his slow fullness to pay them. I
would not trust testifying on this attorney’s behalf because if he does
not pay his workers in a timely manner, then I am quite sure that they
have some resentment towards him and they would not get me the
evidence and supplies that I would need to adequately be able to
testify accurately and honestly. It seems that this attorney is very
greedy, and he would not be willing to pay me for what I am worth for
testifying. Only if this attorney were better to his employees, paid
them on time, was not greedy, and did not push his staff to work long
hours, I might would consider accepting the engagement. Speaking
from experience, a person can only take so much and after working
for so many hours you began to lose focus and can overlook some
important stuff.
REFERENCES:
ExpertPages. (2022). 4 Ways That Expert Witness Can Protect Their
Fees. Retrieved from: https://www.expertpages.com/library/4-ways-
that-expert-witnesses-can-protect-their-fees
