If your job description involves providing a service to a client utilizing your skill set and time, then you are probably a consultant of some kind.
If you have read some of the blogs on this website, you have probably come across many that describe life and work as a management or business consultant. These consultants typically assist their clients in strategy, operations, profitability, and risk mitigation.
But What Else is Out There?
This blog will continue to highlight some other types of consulting roles that are present in our world today. I will describe what they do, how they support their clients, and the experiences and skill set they require.
This article will dive into Expert Witness and Legal Consulting, specifically for scientific, engineering, and subject matter experts.
To simplify the description, I will divide their functions into those performed “in the courtroom” and “out of the courtroom”.
Inside the Court Room
When a lawsuit or other arbitration goes to court, lawyers often need to hire subject matter experts to opine on the case. One-way consultants can assist clients is by serving as this subject matter expert. This means they will sit on the stand and answer questions from the opposing council. As a subject matter expert, they might weigh in on scientific principles that apply to the case, provide thoughts on exhibits and evidence, or opine on what is reality versus what is impossible when it comes to an accident or incident. Being a subject matter expert requires extensive knowledge and experience, such as having a Ph.D. or working in a field for 20 years. Skills such as teaching, debating, and being able to defend your opinion will serve you well here.
Consultants might weigh in on a case in written form instead of verbally. While this method might seem easier on its face, since there is no need to verbally defend opinions in front of the court, drafting a report requires just as much work and preparation. These engineering or scientific reports might be written by one expert or a team of twenty, depending on the size and scope of the matter. Some firms hire interdisciplinary teams, which allow one company to write a single report that might cover topics from mechanical and chemical engineering all the way to biomechanics, human factors, and health sciences. Good written communication skills will greatly benefit you here.
Serving as a subject matter expert is a role that typically comes up during reactive cases involving accidents or incidents, but sometimes technical consultants are brought in during intellectual property infringement cases as well. Consultants can be called in as a subject matter expert to weigh in, by verbally defending or writing a report, on cases involving alleged infringements. Scientific and engineering consultants can provide the high-level technical knowledge that lawyers need to support legal arguments as part of an intellectual property infringement case. Lawyers with a background in STEM can also complete the patent bar exam and assist other attorneys in a similar way.
Outside the Court Room
Consultants can be called in to assist lawyers and clients outside the courtroom as well. One common function that consultants are called on to play is advising governmental bodies and agencies. From advising on environmental concerns for the EPA to vehicle matters for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, consultants can provide expert witness testimony or technical reports to assist these bodies in making large scale decisions.
Becoming a Legal Consultant
If you have a background in law or some experience in the field, you may want to consider becoming a legal consultant. If you are specialized in a particular field, such as real estate, business, or health care, you could advise clients in your field of expertise. If you were a lawyer in a previous role but have moved to other fields, you could consider a part-time position as a legal consultant, utilizing your previous experience and degrees.
If you have a technical background (either as a subject matter expert or as a lawyer who has passed the patent bar exam), then you can also be hired to assist companies in creating patent applications. If your expertise is in linguistics or communications, you can also assist in the patent application. This consulting service can be highly valued by clients because it can help them avoid the even higher cost of a legal battle in the courtroom.
The Bottom Line
Whether you are a highly knowledgeable scientist or engineer, a lawyer, or a linguist, you can be hired as an expert witness or legal consultant.
While the work of some types of consultants can be categorized by type of business operation, or by whether the work is proactive versus reactive, the work of expert witness and legal consultants can be categorized by whether it relates to matters going on inside the courtroom versus outside.
Within the courtroom, legal consultants serve as subject matter experts in depositions, opine on topics through written technical reports, and weigh in on IP infringement cases. Outside the courtroom, legal consultants assist governmental agencies in large scale decision making, provide legal services, and assist in patent application preparation.
Ricky Hollenbach is a Thermal Sciences Associate at Exponent Scientific and Engineering Consulting. He solves problems in the thermal-fluids, heat transfer, aerospace, and turbomachinery fields. He earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Duke University.
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