One expert witness that litigators should nearly always have in their arsenal is the certified public accountant. An experienced CPA with litigation experience and training can be an invaluable resource by providing critical financial perspective on legal claims and testifying as to their value. Whom you select as a CPA not only determines how much your client’s claims are worth, but whether those claims can be proved in court.
In the past several years, the federal courts have significantly revised the admissibility standards for expert witness testimony. Several cases, starting with the Supreme Court’s 1993 decision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 509 U.S. 579, have demonstrated the bench’s increasing lack of tolerance for so-called experts who attempt to sell unsupported opinions to triers of fact.
