ABSTRACT
The Art and Science of Expert Witness Testimony shares the fruits of a multiyear research project with in-depth interviews of attorneys, judges, and seasoned forensic experts from multiple disciplines including neurology, psychiatry, orthopedics, neuropsychology, economics, history, and psychology. The book weaves together practical insights and advice from the multiple courtroom stakeholders with applied neuroscience, linguistics, and sociology literature, highlighting and offering bridges for the areas where the communication needs and expectations of the courtroom collide with expert witness’ communication habits developed over years of academic and professional training. In this chapter, strategies for structuring direct expert witness testimony are presented. Some retaining attorneys have a clear vision for how they will structure questions and therefore the sequence of information jurors experience during direct expert witness testimony at trial. Many attorneys though rely on expert witnesses to collaborate with them to frame the questions and organize the direct testimony presentation into a narrative that is engaging, vivid and useful to jurors. This chapter focuses on the sequence and goals of the overall narrative as well as the nature of the honest, clear collaborative relationship between the retaining attorney and expert witness that is necessary to develop engaging, accessible expert witness testimony.
