How to Get Started in Litigation Support

Source: Journal of Accountancy

There are three levels of service in litigation support:

Consulting—Advising attorneys about factual matters and strategy. Typically you do not testify as an expert witness, but the role can change.

Expert witness—Rendering an opinion before a court. Once you take the witness stand, your work becomes subject to discovery. See Journal of Accountancy articles “So You Want to Be an Expert Witness,” October 2004, page 23; and “An Expert Witness Can Make or Break a Case,” August 2001, page 37.

Other—Serving as arbitrator, mediator, special master, or referee.

Accountants with good analytical and advisory skills will find many engagement opportunities with litigators in financial damages suits. These engagements allow you to ease your way into expert witness work.

This article provides citations of valuable resources and gives advice on how to control the quality of your work.

From Journal of Accountancy, August 2007. For the complete article, click here, then select Wading Into Litigation Support.