Services of an Expert Witness in Purchasing
Robert Menard
Certified Purchasing Professional,
Certified Professional Purchasing Consultant, Certified Green Purchasing Professional, Certified Professional Purchasing Manager
An expert witness in purchasing serves others through the application of his specialized education, training, experience, and expertise. While these qualities are necessary, they are not sufficient for execution of expert witness duties in purchasing.
I have been fortunate to serve parties in litigation and arbitration and their attorneys in various capacities from simple advice, to rendering expert witness opinions in reports, depositions, and testimony. The party can be either plaintiff or defendant because the facts dictate the expert’s opinion.
Attorneys prefer that the expert witness be familiar with the legal process as it minimizes preparation and coaching time. Nevertheless, they would rather have an unimpeachable expert who can be trained in testimony delivery. That said, let us examine the practical considerations of an expert witness in purchasing.
Most often, I am contacted by attorneys directly, the most fruitful source of my practice as an expert witness in purchasing. Such contact results most often from web presence. If one were to Google “expert witness in purchasing” , depending on the day, my name, my blog , or that of the American Purchasing Society , a strategic partner, come up in 7 of the top 10 organic listings.
Referrals are the second best source as clients, lawyers, or organizations recommend me based upon their experience. As Martha Stewart might say, “That is a good thing”. A recommendation eliminates all doubts as to qualifications.
Earlier this year, I acceded to requests from expert witness agencies to sign with them. This was not an easy decision as my experience with speakers bureaus militated against enrollment with them. However, expert witness agencies are far different from speakers bureaus in two significant points.
- Speakers bureaus deduct from the speakers rate while expert witness agencies add a percentage to the expert’s fee
- Speakers bureaus are glorified dating services attempting to match wide ranging criteria to skills while expert witness agencies are far more exclusive and precise
A lawyer in search of an expert witness ideally wants someone whose testimony suits his or her argument. This is not always possible. In one case, it has happened that the initial assessment offered by the lawyer was not fully supported by the discovery given to me for examination. The case involved an insurance company defending a small retailer. Without divulging specifics, the lawsuit involved oral representations of an interstate purchase and sale transaction. My duty was to render an opinion as to the meaning and requirements of the Purchase Order and attendant warranties.
Soon into my research, it became apparent that I could not provide the opinion favored by the lawyer so I called her. She understood and thanked me for the service. “At the very least”, she said, “I know how to proceed toward settlement.” This advice saved the expense of a full scale written opinion, deposition, and testimony, all of which would have been detrimental.
Recently, my services for a Plaintiff involved merely an opinion, no written report, deposition, or testimony required. This was singular in my experience but the lawyer explained that this case involved a bankruptcy court and state laws permitting the attorney to summarize an expert’s opinion rather than present the report to the adversarial opponent. Even though this claim ran into the millions, both parties exhibited sloppy purchase and sales practices. As a consequence, three expert opinions were required, causation, damages, and purchasing practice.
In this peculiar case, the need for my opinion was to neutralize an opinion rendered by an expert for the Defendant. None the less, my opinion was the lynchpin because causation and damages would be moot if my opinion were not accepted as superior to the Defendant’s expert.
In future posts, we’ll talk about do’s and don’ts of the report and testimony.