Getting Started as an Expert Witness - Interview with Steven Babitsky, Esq. - Part 1

Getting Started as an Expert Witness, Interview with Steven Babitsky, Esq. - Part 1
Steven Babitsky, Esq., President of SEAK, Inc. shares tips about becoming an expert witness and advice on how to start an expert witness business. He covers expert witness marketing, qualifications, income potential, and more.

Tell us a little bit about your background.
Well, I was a personal injury lawyer for 20 years, and I enjoyed doing that. And after retiring from being a personal injury lawyer, I started SEAK, which stands for Steven, Ellen (my late wife), Alex (my son who works in the business) and Karen (who works in the business). We do conferences and seminars and publish books, a lot of which have to do with expert witness testimony. We do 30-50 conferences a year, as well.

How are expert witnesses used by attorneys?
Attorneys retain expert witnesses to evaluate claims, to see if they have a valid claim, to write a report, which would be used to settle or adjust cases, to form an opinion in a case, to see if their claim is a viable claim, and to testify at deposition, and/or in court to express their opinions when cases are tried or litigated.

What qualifies someone to be an expert witness?
The law says that you can be qualified by various methods. Most people think that, for example, you have to be a doctor, or an accountant or something like that. But the law says that you can be qualified if you have the education, training, or experience. And it’s in the alternative, so that any one of the three is sufficient. So you can be a doctor and be qualified to testify about medical issues, you can be an accountant and testify about financial issues, you also could be a car mechanic to talk about mechanical auto issues. Even though the car mechanic doesn’t have further education, his experience would qualify him to be an expert. And there are hundreds of different fields of expertise which people could be an expert in.

So you could be in a trade such as carpentry, or be a nurse, or real estate agent, and conceivably start an expert witness service?
Yes, I mean it will depend. The amount of business you would get would depend on your qualifications and the amount of litigation in a certain area that would require your testimony. So, for example, a doctor – an orthopedic surgeon – would get a lot of business because a lot of people who go to orthopedic surgeons eventually file lawsuits for car accidents and stuff of that nature. If you’re an aviation person and there is an aviation issue or an air crash or something, you could go into that. There are dozens and dozens or hundreds of different areas of expertise, maybe more than that. You could be in law enforcement, you could be a mechanical engineer, you could be a civil engineer, you could be a nurse, you could be a CPA, you could be a construction person, you could be any one of hundreds and hundreds of different areas of expertise. And some will generate more business than others because there’s more litigation. Generally speaking the more litigation, the more there is a need for expert testimony.