312-49 · Question #583
What must an attorney do first before you are called to testify as an expert?
The correct answer is A. Qualify you as an expert witness. Before an expert witness can offer opinion testimony in court, the calling attorney must first formally qualify that person as an expert in the relevant field. This process, sometimes called voir dire of the witness, involves the attorney eliciting the witness's credentials…
Question
What must an attorney do first before you are called to testify as an expert?
Options
- AQualify you as an expert witness
- BRead your curriculum vitae to the jury
- CEngage in damage control
- DProve that the tools you used to conduct your examination are perfect
How the community answered
(16 responses)- A88% (14)
- C6% (1)
- D6% (1)
Explanation
Before an expert witness can offer opinion testimony in court, the calling attorney must first formally qualify that person as an expert in the relevant field. This process, sometimes called voir dire of the witness, involves the attorney eliciting the witness's credentials, education, training, and experience, and then formally moving the court to recognize the person as an expert. Without this qualification, the court will not permit the witness to give expert opinion testimony. Reading a CV to the jury may be part of this process, but the formal legal requirement is the qualification itself.
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