InformationWeek

August 24, 1998

Will You Swear To Tell The 'Expert' Truth?

By Edward Cone

t's hard to imagine a trial without a few expert witnesses, and year 2000 lawsuits will be no exception. With this in mind, current and former CIOs are setting themselves up for stints on the stand.

"I get 10 E-mails a day from people who want to get into the expert witness game," says Stephen Hock, an attorney with Phelan, Reid, & Priest LLP, a law firm in San Francisco and New York. "Some are ex-CIOs, and I'm sure more will opt to go into the expert-witness business when the time comes." Sitting CIOs would be unlikely to testify as hostile witnesses, he says, although some might resign to do it.

But being an expert witness isn't always a glamorous pastime. "It's not much fun to get cross-examined," Hock says. So what's the attraction? "An expert witness can get from $100 to $800 an hour."

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