An Expert Witness in Purchasing?
Robert Menard, Certified Purchasing Professional, Certified Professional Purchasing Consultant
Expert witnesses are fairly common commodities for professions such medicine, construction, banking, IT, and hundreds of others. A Google search for “expert witness” turns up hundreds of pages. Most listings are brokers seeking paid registrations from experts on the one end and customers, usually law firms, on the other. The broker then matches the laws firm’s need with the expertise obtainable.
Amongst the many hundreds of brokers and expertise specialties available, almost nowhere will you find an expert witness in purchasing. This reality is another reflection of the reality of our profession. Although purchasing is the most efficient generator of profitability in all of business, it lacks the high profile luster of sales, marketing, and finance, to name but a few.
The American Purchasing Society is the best source on the web to find the most highly qualified experts in the profession. One broker recently found and hired me through the Society. His law firm client needed me to examine the discovery documents, write a report and testify on purchasing practice, ethics, UCC obligations of buyer and seller, freight terms, and related supply chain matters.
Law firms expect experts to have earned professional designations such as Certified Purchasing Professional (CPP), Certified Professional Purchasing Consultant (CPPC), and Certified Professional Purchasing Manager (CPPM). The ability and history of testifying, an understanding of the mechanics of legal process and law suits, experience in arbitration or other Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) are all helpful. Some law firms will prepare and train witnesses in testimony etiquette using video taped mock depositions.
They also need the expert’s Curriculum Vitae (CV), a summary of academic and professional history and achievements. Here is what I list for areas of Ex
pertise on mine.
- Purchasing
- Purchasing Policies and Procedures
- Green Purchasing
- Negotiation
- Supply Chain Management
- Professional Practice in Purchasing
Your brief bio should include publications in which you have been cited, your published works, related experience, and other useful skills. Mine has the following: Veteran business pro, Certified Purchasing Professional (CPP) and Certified Professional Purchasing Consultant (CPPC) providing training and consulting in purchasing and negotiation for public and private clients, extensive foreign trade credentials, Author of “You’re the Buyer – You Negotiate It” and “Green Purchasing and Sustainability“, foreign language fluency in French and Italian, strategic partner to the American Purchasing Society, member National Speakers Association.