The Role and Effective Use of Experts in "Bad Faith" and Coverage Litigation - And Beyond

Using experts in civil litigation can be very effective and improve a case tremendously - or, it can be fraught with peril and risk. This course will provide valuable information to civil litigators on "both sides of the v." It will cover the engagement of litigation experts, including factors impacting whether and how to retain an expert, differences between consulting and testifying experts, and the "rules of engagement," weight/credibility, discoverability of expert communications and work product; claims experts' best practices, pitfalls/problems. Statutes and cases will be cited. Concepts covered apply nationally. Your presenter, Stephen Johnson, expert in large-scale insurance disputes - some of his examples will be within that context but his objective is to cover concepts applicable to many types of civil litigation disputes. Because criminal cases typically do not involve as much discovery as civil cases, he does not extensively use criminal case illustrations.

Learning Objectives:

1. Analyze factors impacting whether to retain an expert and which kind of expert

2. Review the selection of experts, "onboarding," and maintaining a productive relationship

3. Discuss the scope - unilateral or mutual?

4. Examine applicable law - federal rules and state court rules

5. Asses practice pointers - for both retaining attorneys  and disclosed experts

6. Identify pitfalls to avoid

7. Explore notable case law and examples of state law