How Personal Injury Attorneys Find Expert Witnesses
Often, personal injury cases involve complex legal issues and require the involvement of expert witnesses. An expert witness is someone who has extensive knowledge or experience in a particular field. An expert witness has specialized training in a specific area related to the injury or accident. Expert witnesses are usually called upon to help the court understand the facts and issues of the case. Unlike lay witnesses who base their opinions on what they saw or heard, expert witnesses use their knowledge or skill to draw conclusions. The work of an expert witness is to draw objective and unbiased opinions based on their knowledge, experience, and training. Examples of expert witnesses commonly called upon to testify in personal injury cases include medical experts, accident reconstruction experts, engineering experts, vocational experts, and financial experts.
If you have a pending personal injury case, you may be wondering how you will find expert witnesses if the need to hire such witnesses arises. The good news is that your personal injury attorney will handle finding expert witnesses. Personal injury attorneys use several methods to find expert witnesses. Below is a look at some of the methods personal injury attorneys use to find expert witnesses.
Referrals From Other Attorneys
This is the most commonly used method by attorneys to find expert witnesses. Your personal injury attorney may request a referral from a colleague within the same firm or from another attorney. Usually, attorneys recommend expert witnesses who have excelled in previous cases to each other.
Experts Used in the Past
If your attorney has worked with expert witnesses in the past, they may hire those same witnesses if they performed well.
Referrals from Other Expert Witnesses
Your personal injury attorney may seek advice from other expert witnesses in your case or from experts they have worked with before.
Locator and Referral Services
There are several reasons why your personal injury attorney would turn to an expert witness referral service or expert witness broker. For instance, your attorney may turn to a referral service or broker if they cannot get a recommendation for an expert. Other reasons your attorney may turn to an expert witness referral service or expert witnesses broker include the following;
- The first-choice experts are unavailable
- Your attorney does not have time to search for an expert through other means
- The defense side has hired the first-choice experts
- There are very few experts in the specific field
Experts That Opposed the Attorney in the Past
If your personal injury attorney has come against an effective expert witness in the past, they may hire the expert to work on their side this time.
Settlement and Jury Verdict Reports
Settlement and jury verdicts get reported online or in print. Settlement and jury verdict reports contain the names of the expert witnesses in the case. Your attorney may contact experts named in a settlement or jury verdict to help with your case.
Professional Associations
Your attorney could contact a particular profession’s association to get a list of experts or consultants.
Contact Us for Legal Help
If you have a pending personal injury case and are in need of legal representation, we urge you to contact our Orlando personal injury attorneys at The Pendas Law Firm. We can help you recover the compensation you deserve.
The Pendas Law Firm also represents clients in the West Palm Beach, Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale, Ocala, Bradenton, Daytona Beach, Naples, Melbourne, Miami, Jacksonville, and Tampa areas.
