Thursday, May 17, 2012

Expert Witness Advertising


Some expert witnesses express concern about their advertising**and being questioned about it by opposing counsel, while others say they let questions about their advertising "bother them all the way to the bank."

One of the keys in responding to such questions is to not take it personally; your poise will speak volumes.  And when answered simply and truthfully, these questions are not usually a problem. 

One expert, in preparing for opposing counsel to ask about his advertising, does a little research of his own. He makes copies of the opposing law firms' ads in their local yellow pages and prints out their website "commercial."  As the questions arise, he pulls these from his bag, and reports that more often than not - dead silence, and then the subject changes.

I'm not sure every expert could pull this off or that it would fly with all retaining counsel, but it does make you smile, doesn't it?

Do you have a ready response to questions about your advertising or does it even concern you?

**Advertising in and of itself is not objectionable or wrong in any way and does not make one a "hired gun." That results, instead, from prostituting oneself by manipulating the facts and opinions to provide a desired conclusion. Ain't no help for that kind of wrong.