Legal Definitions - consulting expert

A consulting expert is an individual with specialized knowledge, skills, experience, training, or education who is hired by a legal team to provide advice, analysis, and strategic guidance on technical or complex issues relevant to a legal case. Unlike a testifying expert, a consulting expert is typically *not* expected to present their opinions or findings in court. Their primary role is to educate the attorneys, help them understand intricate details, develop case theories, and prepare for litigation, often without their work product being discoverable by the opposing side.

Here are a few examples to illustrate the role of a consulting expert:

• Example 1: Medical Malpractice Case

  A law firm is representing a patient who claims a surgeon made a critical error during an operation. To understand the medical intricacies and determine if the standard of care was violated, the firm hires a highly respected, board-certified surgeon. This surgeon reviews all the patient's medical records, surgical notes, and imaging scans. They provide the legal team with an in-depth analysis of the procedure, explaining potential complications, standard surgical practices, and whether the actions taken by the defendant surgeon deviated from accepted medical norms. However, the law firm decides to use a different surgeon as their testifying expert, keeping the initial surgeon as a consulting expert whose insights inform their strategy without being disclosed to the opposing side.

  This illustrates a consulting expert because the surgeon's role is to educate and advise the legal team on complex medical issues, helping them build their case strategy, rather than to provide testimony in court.

• Example 2: Environmental Litigation

  A company is facing a lawsuit alleging that its manufacturing plant caused significant environmental contamination. The company's legal team retains an experienced environmental scientist to review decades of operational data, waste disposal records, and soil samples. This scientist helps the attorneys understand the complex chemical processes involved, the historical regulatory landscape, and potential alternative causes for the contamination. The scientist's analysis helps the legal team identify weaknesses in the plaintiff's claims and formulate their defense strategy, but the legal team plans to call a different, publicly known expert to testify about the specific findings in court.

  Here, the environmental scientist acts as a consulting expert by providing specialized knowledge to the legal team to understand the technical aspects of the environmental claims and develop a defense, without being designated to testify.

• Example 3: Construction Defect Dispute

  A homeowner is suing a construction company for significant structural defects in their newly built house. The homeowner's attorney hires a seasoned structural engineer to examine the building plans, inspect the property, and analyze the construction methods used. The engineer provides the attorney with a detailed report explaining the specific flaws in the foundation, framing, and load-bearing walls, and how these defects violate building codes and industry standards. This information helps the attorney quantify damages and prepare for negotiations or trial, even though the attorney may later hire a different engineer to present expert testimony to the jury.

  This example demonstrates a consulting expert because the structural engineer's expertise is used to inform and guide the attorney's understanding of the technical construction issues and build the case, rather than to directly present evidence in court.