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Expert Fool

Interesting article on the expert witness business. Court room dramas while a very popular movie and TV show genre, almost never show the havoc time in court wreaks on both plaintiff and defendant. Maybe the damage could be skewed more in one direction than the other but the whole system is set to peck at both sides like vultures cleaning up a carcass. Where the two sides don't have it in them to settle, the eco-system of service providers can bill away until there is nothing left to bill. 

Having a few expert witnesses on both sides will get the parties to that finish line much faster. A less cynical way to look at it would be that the legal system is designed to be be freakishly expensive, completely uncertain and wildly stressful to incentivize disagreeing parties to find another way to resolve their differences. Works in theory but not all parties are evenly matched for one. The big guy can squish the little guy to death in court. And even when there is parity not all people are rational actors. And that is not even talking about the lack of any real expertise among the expert witnesses

When selecting an expert, lawyers often look for traits beyond scientific rigor, like confidence, attractiveness, and poise.

“[A] fool with a small flair for acting and mathematics might be a more successful witness than, say, Einstein,” wrote one scholar. “They’re not chosen for their knowledge but for their ability to persuade.”

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