In Are You Waiting Too Long To Hire An Expert?, construction site expert witness William Gulya, Jr., President & CEO, Middlesex Trenching Company, writes:
Once the need for an expert becomes inevitable through fact pattern or because your adversary has made the choice for you by their strategy to use an expert, you should retain and consult with your expert as soon as possible. The earlier the expert is involved in the case the faster they become thoroughly familiar with significant facts. This advantage will often expose elements of your case that you may not have considered initially. Your expert should be able to give you an objective and detailed analysis of both the strengths and vulnerabilities that may be faced, specific to the areas of his or her expertise.
Waiting to choose an expert until later in the process runs the risk of being unable to retain the best candidate for your particular litigation. The most frustrating situation you can put your expert witness in is with a request to review extensive materials in an unrealistic timeline and often where experts on the other side have been in place for some time and thus have a distinct advantage.