One of the most significant jobs of expert witnesses is report writing. Experts commonly use “red flag” words which can create problems for the expert at deposition and/or trial. Here are 12 red-flag words which expert witnesses should try to avoid.
- “Authoritative” to describe a text. This term has special legal significance that may allow a cross-examining attorney to question the expert about everything in the text.
- “Legal” or “legally.” What is and is not legal is usually outside of the area of expertise of most experts.
- “Draft.” This term alerts counsel to the existence of draft reports that are usually extremely fertile grounds for cross-examination.
- “Work product,” “confidential,” or “privileged.” These terms make it appear as though the expert is trying to hide something.
- “Probable” and “possible.” These ambiguous words should be avoided.
- “Substantially.” This is another ambiguous word to avoid.
- “Obviously” and “clearly.” These terms can be used to make the expert appear patronizing or presumptive.
- “Appears,” “presumably,” “supposedly,” “is said,” and “evidently.” These terms imply uncertainty.
- “He,” “she,” “it,” “they” and other pronouns. Pronouns are uncertain. It is best to use a proper noun.
- Royal “we.” This can be used to make the expert look silly, pompous, or even dishonest.
- “It seems,” “could,” “apparently,” “I believe,” and other hedge words. It is always best to use confident language.
- “Complete,” “thorough,” “meticulous,” “exhaustive,” and other such words. These self-serving words will hold the expert and her report to an extremely high standard.
