Originally from
Take the Witness: Cross Examination in International Arbitration - Hardcover
Take the Witness: Cross Examination in International Arbitration - Electronic
Preview Page from Crossing The Hot Tub: Examining Adverse Expert Witnesses In International Arbitration - Chapter 12
Adverse expert witnesses, in arbitration as in litigation, fall into two main categories. One is the honest but mistaken professional. The other is the paid liar. Fortunately, one tends to encounter more from the former category than the latter, but how one approaches cross examination of the expert, and the odds of succeeding, depend to a significant degree on correctly identifying which category the expert falls into. In addition to the meticulous preparation on which the success of any cross examination depends, one’s approach must also take into account the ways in which arbitration procedures differ from litigation, such as the practice of “hot-tubbing” expert witnesses.
ATTACKING THE PAID LIAR
There is not much to be done with the paid liar other than to attack. The nature of the attack will, of course, depend on what the cross examiner has to work with. Some experts’ credentials may be
JOHN M. TOWNSEND is a Partner in the Washington office of Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP and chairs that firm’s Arbitration and ADR Group. He is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Arbitration Association and was appointed by President Bush to the Panel of Arbitrators of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
