All trial lawyers experience a degree of fear and trepidation when facing the prospect of cross-examining the sophisticated adverse expert — the head of surgery for a hospital, the author of an authoritative textbook or an airline’s chief pilot, for example. But trial lawyers can offset an expert’s superior knowledge, intellect and experience with meticulous preparation and a carefully formulated game plan.
Cross-examining expert witnesses presents the trial lawyer with unique challenges and opportunities. As Francis Wellman wrote more than 100 years ago in his seminal work “The Art of Cross-Examination”: “Assume that an expert witness called against you has come prepared to do you all the harm he can, and will avail himself of every opportunity to do so which you may inadvertently give him.” The trick is minimizing the opposing expert’s opportunity to do harm to your case.
