You guys, I have just discovered how much an expert witness gets paid by the hour ($459 on average) and surely this is a mistake.
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You guys, I have just discovered how much an expert witness gets paid by the hour ($459 on average) and surely this is a mistake.
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@evacide Seems low for a testifying expert, actually.
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@mattblaze I have been informed that I should be charging at least $700, which I am having some difficulty wrapping my head around.
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@evacide @mattblaze [doing quick math] hmm that must mean you only bill for about 10% of your time, the rest is to cover prep, research, and networking
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Adam Shostack :donor: :rebelverified:replied to AN/CRM-114 last edited by
@flyingsaceur @evacide @mattblaze Work done for the case is billable. Some experts charge a little more (I’ve seen 10% for deposition or testifying*) but you bill for your time spent on the work on the case.
*if you write a report, your rates will be in there.
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AN/CRM-114replied to Adam Shostack :donor: :rebelverified: last edited by
@adamshostack @evacide @mattblaze what about networking, finding clients, and professional development? For plain old consulting I’d plan o spending at least 50% of my time on that and setting a bill rate accordingly. Or is it just a seller’s market?
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@flyingsaceur @adamshostack @evacide I'm not sure what you're asking here. Expert witness work in general is work-for-hire on specific cases. You bill for the time you do on that case (background research, report writing, meetings with the lawyers, depositions, trial testimony, etc). Most experts also have a day job in their field (which is how they're experts), so expert witness is only very rarely a full time job.
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@mattblaze @adamshostack @evacide What drives the hourly rate of expert testimony? The first answer is “that’s what everyone charges” and I’m trying to dig into why.
By comparison, to be a consultant vs salaried, it’s twice as expensive because only half of the work can be billed, so the other half is baked into the rate. What’s baked into the expert testimony rate?
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Adam Shostack :donor: :rebelverified:replied to AN/CRM-114 last edited by
@flyingsaceur @mattblaze @evacide There's a small set of experts who write well, present well, are willing to tolerate lawyers
, and don't have conflicts of interest. -
Matt Blazereplied to Adam Shostack :donor: :rebelverified: last edited by
@adamshostack @flyingsaceur @evacide Yes, this. It's a non-trivial set of skills you have to bring to this, and the universe of people with all of them is fairly small.
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@mattblaze @adamshostack @flyingsaceur I mean I think @evacide is well known as a trusted expert, so if word got out I think people would know who to call.
