Italian Wedding's Food as Important as Selecting an Expert Witness at Trial

Recently, I attended a wedding in Philadelphia joining the children of two Italian American families, Michelle and Gianpiertro. Their awesome "coupleness" was demonstrated by the sensationally reception due to all the savory italian dishes.

Michelle and Gianpietro's delicious wedding food much like a lawyer and his expert at trial created an unstoppable appeal. Selecting an expert for trial may be the single most important decision made by your counsel. This selection appears even more obviously right or wrong when you listen and watch the way the expert interacts with counsel. You will notice a product at trial that resembles either an overcooked ravioli or a perfectly seasoned sauce with linguine.

An expert who is too cerebral and not understandable to a jury will lose them, similar to serving a meal without pasta to the guests at an Italian wedding. Once you lose the jury or the reception guests, the trial or party goes down hill quickly. No one will want to dance, talk, or participate, and the wedding hall will lose guests fast. You will notice this occur too at trial. The jurors will start dosing off and daydreaming.

An expert needs to be a good teacher and listener. Teacher because she must edify the jurors about their opinion and why their expertise should sway them to adopt her explanation. A listener because on cross examination, she must only answer the questions asked of her and not attempt to engage in some type of show down with the opposing counsel making hyper-technical arguments, that again will lose the jury. And, above all, they cannot talk down to the jurors. So, in many cases, it is not the length or experience in the field that is the ultimate determining factor when selecting an expert, but their presentation that matters most.

Buon Appettito