Conclusion

• Author: John Hollander
• Pages: 305-307

conclusion



chapter eight

Conclusion

  , but they take a lot of work. Ex-

perts often have their own agendas; they may want to help,

but at a price. at price includes eort, risk, and money.

Judges often mistrust them as they take up court time and

can exert more inuence than they should. On the other

hand, judges depend upon them to ll in the gaps, to help

them reach conclusions that they could not otherwise.

And consider the risks. Whereas physicians undertake

“rst, do no harm,” lawyers take no such oath. Lawyers

take risks all the time — they take risks for their clients;

they make recommendations based on unknown odds of

unforeseen outcomes; they expose themselves to risk of

complaints and negligence lawsuits.

So what is so special about experts? Lawyers have to

choose the experts, except in the case of participant ex-

perts. Even then, they have to choose which participants

they will bring to the courtroom. ey must negotiate the

terms of the retainer. ey must instruct the expert with

issue descriptions they predict, based on assumptions

they hope to prove at trial. Once trial begins, they must

convert their preparation into evidence. Because lawyers