When hiring an expert, the most important quality to look for is someone who presents well. Assess how he speaks, how he appears, and his degree of comfort with himself and his area of expertise. If it is not possible to meet with him before hiring him, then ask for several references from attorneys for whom he has testified. This is because, as a rule, jurors will tend to believe a medical expert who presents and appears well. Of course, the content of his testimony is crucial too, but if this information cannot be conveyed properly, it will difficult for a medical expert to succeed. The medical expert can have spotless credentials and plenty of experience, but if, for whatever reason, he does not present well to a jury, the jury may focus on the absence of those qualities and never really hear the testimony.
How the medical expert presents should be reflective of his clinical hands-on experience. There needs to be a balance between daily clinical practice and academic knowledge. Physicians who are strictly academic and who do not actually practice patient care, are often viewed as impractical when it comes to their arm-chair view of a medical-legal matter, particularly if the alleged malpractice occurred during the course of a patient encounter. The medical expert needs to say, "I've done this. I've seen these cases many times." Most attorneys believe that this helps establish trustworthiness with the jury. These two characteristics – presenting well and real-world experience – build on each other and help establish credibility. That is why many attorneys believe that it is prudent to meet a medical expert in person before hiring him.
One attorney told me that when he meets a potential medical expert he assesses the expert's level of comfort with himself and with his area of expertise. He says that he tends to have a gut feeling within the first few minutes of talking with the physician. He describes the trait he looks for as a form of self-confidence, but one that comes not from an inflated ego, but rather from the expert's knowledge within his field of expertise. He went on to say that not only do these qualities make an expert witness more trustworthy, but they also make him less vulnerable to attack during cross-examination. This is because the expert who is comfortable with himself, and understands what he knows and doesn't know, is less likely when questioned to stray beyond his area of expertise. Going beyond his expertise will ultimately subject him to effective cross-examination which could discredit his entire testimony.
