ABSTRACT
The expert witness must review and understand all petitions, interrogatories, contracts, record production requests, counterclaims and all other court legal documents generated in response to the litigation before he reads depositions. This allows him to make preliminary notes, observations and a listing of information he will need from the depositions. All issues might be answered by these documents in themselves, without need to examine books, records, correspondence and other original records of the parties. Armed with this information, the expert witness can read the depositions objectively because he is armed with knowledge of several of the facts. If the opposing expert has prepared and filed an expert’s report and has been or will be deposed, attend the deposition if you can. Whether you have attended or not, always read, cross-reference and make notes on his report. You must rebut it. All expert reports can be rebutted. Determine whether the opposing expert’s deposition and report are supported by factual and substantive authority. The analyses and commentaries on depositions, transcripts, court-filed documents and accounting records will assist an expert to arrive at and to testify on an expert opinion. It shows how one discovery leads to another and the expert’s report shows what accounting questions and answers the accounting expert witness should provide for his attorney to be used in direct-and crossexamination in depositions or in the court.
