Retaining the right construction expert witness is one of the most consequential decisions in construction litigation. The wrong expert — regardless of technical competence — can undermine a well-founded case. The right expert can make a complicated case comprehensible and defensible.
The selection process deserves more attention than it typically receives, particularly early in a case when time pressure is lowest and options are widest.
Matching the Expert to the Case
The most important selection criterion is relevance of experience to the specific dispute. constructionexpertwitnessutah.com covers construction disputes across multiple specializations — defects, delays, claims, cost analysis — but the expert within that specialization who is best suited to a specific case is the one whose project experience most closely matches the type of construction at issue.
An expert who has spent 20 years managing hospital construction projects is the right choice for a hospital dispute. The same expert may be less credible in a residential subdivision defect case where jury identification with the subject matter matters.
Deposition and Trial Experience
Technical expertise alone doesn’t make an effective expert witness. An expert who has never been deposed will have a steeper learning curve than one who has been through the process dozens of times. Ask specifically about deposition experience, cross-examination experience, and trial testimony in cases that went to verdict.
The American Bar Association’s guidance on expert witness selection covers the due diligence process for expert witness evaluation from the attorney’s perspective, including what questions to ask during the initial consultation.
Document Review Capacity
Construction disputes typically involve enormous volumes of documentation — project schedules, RFIs, submittals, change orders, daily reports, correspondence. An expert witness needs the capacity to review that documentation thoroughly enough to form reliable opinions, which means both the time and the organizational systems to manage large document volumes effectively.
Ask how the expert manages document review on large cases and what their process is for tracking the basis for their opinions back to specific documents.
