Learn how to be a black belt attorney when questioning a doctor at their deposition.

1. Never give advance warning of what you intend to ask.

A black belt is confident of their abilities. They don’t need to show off. They don’t need to put on a show. They certainly don’t need to impress the doctor with their legal prowess. When questioning a doctor at a deposition, I always advocate asking the key questions in the case AT THE VERY BEGINNING of the questioning.

1. He no longer practices medicine and is “semi-retired.”

There are some medical “experts” who after practicing medicine for many years hook up with expert-witness companies that lawyers use to evaluate their cases. The doctor is able to earn additional income in his golden years, without the exposure of his own medical malpractice that goes along with treating a patient inappropriately.

The lure of additional income in the retirement years is enticing. Make money from criticizing and commenting on someone else’s treatment? What could be easier? Come into court and give opinions about the standard of medical care- why not? “I’ve been doing this for 35 years,” says the “expert” gynecologist.

Two recent rulings from federal circuit courts reviewing expert testimony in trade secrets cases reached very different results, with one circuit upholding admission of the testimony and the other finding that the testimony was sufficiently harmful to require a new trial.

Taken together, the two cases shed light on the allowable boundaries for expert testimony in trade secrets litigation.

The most recent ruling, Synergetics v. Hurst, decided February 5th by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, upheld an expert’s testimony on economic damages, despite the appellant’s contention that it was based on incorrect assumptions about the relevant market.