NCJ Number
117341
Date Published
1989
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article identifies and discusses decisions attorneys must make in using economic experts in a jury trial, reviews the sources for such experts, and suggests how to make complex economic testimony clear to the jury.
Abstract
The economic expert should be selected early, particularly in a damage suit. A defendant should always obtain an expert for counseling during discovery and trial to assist in drafting discovery requests, analyzing responses, and cross-examining the plaintiff's expert. All the points that the defendant will argue ought to be made on cross-examination of the plaintiff's expert, using the defendant's expert only to consult. When an expert must be chosen from outside the industry in question to testify on matters such as antitrust liability or market definition, the expert should be a trained economist. Do not use an economist to testify on damages, however, unless finance was one of the major areas of the expert's education. There are many sources of damage experts besides economists, including schools of accounting and accounting firms, schools of business administration, management consulting firms, and the research and analysis departments of brokerage houses. After selecting the expert, the next step is to prepare the testimony and exhibits. The testimony should include a detailed statement of the expert's background and qualifications, an indication of the testimony's purpose and a disclaimer about any substantive issues not being addressed, a description of the sources on which the testimony is based, an orderly statement of the expert's conclusions, a step-by-step explanation of how the expert reached the conclusions, and restatement of the conclusions.