Expert witness testimony can be challenging even for the most experienced attorney, never mind if you have little to no litigation experience. Understanding the evidentiary foundations for admissibility as well as how hearsay rules impact expert testimony can be daunting. But mastering the evidentiary rules can help you present clear and persuasive expert testimony. Eliciting expert witness testimony skillfully takes practice and artistry, and this seminar will provide you with both. You will be asked to participate by framing carefully tailored questions and using effective cross-examination techniques.
Join attorney, professor, and author Paul J. Zwier in this two-hour seminar and learn the differences and distinctions between lay and expert witness testimony. You will learn the importance of asking questions like, “why are you here?” and “how did you prepare to conduct your review to be insure its reliability?” In addition to taking away countless tools and strategies on how to conduct an effective direct and cross-examination of an expert witness, you will learn broader litigation strategies including:
- how to decide if you need an expert
- how to prepare an expert for a deposition
- how to strategize about when to cross-examine an expert witness, whether in deposition or at trial, considering evidentiary rules
- and most importantly, techniques and tips on how to properly elicit an opinion from your expert witness that is reliable and relevant
On Demand CLE available at: https://www.vacle.org/product.aspx?zpid=7671
Faculty:
Prof. Paul J. Zwier, Emory School of Law / Atlanta, GA
Paul J. Zwier II is Of Counsel to Guttman, Buschner & Brooks PLLC with offices in Atlanta and Washington, DC. Mr. Zwier is one of the nation’s most distinguished professors of advocacy and skills training. He joined the Emory Law School faculty in 2003, taking on several roles. As director of the Advocacy Skills Program, director of Emory’s Program for International Advocacy and Dispute Resolution, and a professor of law, Professor Zwier joined the Emory University Law School faculty from the University of Tennessee Law School. He also teaches evidence, torts, products liability, and an advanced international negotiation seminar. He previously served as professor of law and director of the Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution at the University of Tennessee. Prior to that, he taught at the University of Richmond School of Law from 1981 to 1999.
Mr. Zwier has served as former director of Public Education for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) and has taught and designed public and in-house skills programs in trial advocacy, appellate advocacy, advocacy in mediation, motion practice, negotiations, legal strategy, e-discovery, supervisory and leadership skills, and expert testimony at deposition and trial for more than 25 years. In 1998, Mr. Zwier received NITA’s Prentice Marshall Award.
Mr. Zwier’s clients benefit from his expert advice on trial strategy, jury analysis, and negotiation and mediation strategy. He consults on a wide variety of disputes and topics including litigation involving bad faith insurance, products liability law, federal civil procedure, evidence law, the False Claims Act, securities fraud, patent litigation, MDLs, and other complex litigation matters. He is also an expert and consultant in the area of international dispute resolution. He has provided consulting services with The Carter Center (TCC), including its work in Israel/Palestine, in Syria, and in Liberia. In 2007 he was part of a TCC delegation working on the conflict in Gaza. In Liberia, his consultations included working with a delegation from Emory’s Institute for Developing Nations (IDN). This led to consultation and collaboration with the TCC in its collaboration with the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Mr. Zwier has trained judges and lawyers for the international criminal courts. He has also led training for Lawyers Without Borders and NITA, for the governments of Liberia, Tanzania, and in Kenya. He has also taught advocacy skills to international lawyers and judges in Yekaterinburg, Russia; Mexico City, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; Monrovia, Liberia; Nairobi, Kenya; Tbilisi, Georgia; Northern Ireland; Scotland; England; and led seminars in negotiation and dispute resolution for black South African lawyers as part of a State Department program in 1999.
Mr. Zwier is the author of numerous books and articles including:
- Peacemaking, Religious Belief and the Rule of Law: The Struggle between Dictatorship and Democracy in Syria and Beyond (Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, London and New York, 2018).
- Principled Negotiation and Mediation in the International Arena: Talking with Evil, (Cambridge University Press, 2018)
- Advanced Negotiation and Mediation Theory and Practice, 3rd ed. (NITA, 2015) (with Guernsey)
- Fact Investigation: Interviewing, Case Analysis, and Counseling for Effective Representation, 2d ed. (NITA, 2015) (with Bocchino)
- Exhibit Rules, 2d ed. (NITA 2017) (with Malone and John Zwier)
- Effective Expert Testimony, 4th ed. (NITA, 2015) (with Malone)
- Legal Strategy (NITA 2005)
- Teaching Legal Strategy (NITA 2005) (with Siemer and Rothschild)
Mr. Zwier received his JD from Pepperdine University in 1979, LLM from Temple University in 1981, and BA from Calvin College in 1976.
