As an attorney handling a software litigation case that may go to trial, one of the challenges you might face is determining the specific type of expert witness required to support your client’s claims. Having the right expert can make all the difference in legitimately supporting your client’s case, whether it involves patent infringement, data migration, organizational change management, software integration, or software implementation.
Today, we’re exploring the types of experts you might need for various types of IT failure cases and the qualities to look for in these experts.
4 Considerations When Evaluating Software Expert Witnesses
1. Credibility and Trial Experience
Software expert witnesses should have a track record of providing reliable testimony and the skill to explain complex technical concepts in layman’s language to a mediator, jury, and/or judge. Most important is the need for the expert to be a day-to-day practitioner rather than someone who worked in the field many years ago and decided to become an expert witness.
Contemplating litigation?
We have multiple software expert witnesses available for provision of reports, depositions, and testimonies.
2. Team-Based Approach
If one expert does all the work themselves, this may be costly. With thousands of documents to review, you don’t want to pay the rate of an expert witness for work that an analyst can do.
3. Software Code Analysis Experience
If the case involves patent infringement, it is crucial to engage a technology expert with experience in software code analysis. These experts can evaluate and interpret code, providing insights into whether infringement has occurred.
4. System-Specific Experience
Most cases do not require that an expert has a specific type of vendor application experience. The most common issues present in a failed software implementation are people and process related rather than technology related. It can be helpful to know the functionality a specific vendor application offers, but it is much more beneficial to understand things like industry best practices when looking at root causes of failure.
What is the Nature of Your Client’s Complaint?
By identifying the specific aspects of an IT failure, you can pinpoint the areas where expert testimony will be most effective.
We invite you to request a free consultation with our team. We have a bench of implementation experts as well as damages experts, for each aspect of an IT implementation failure.
