it's OK to be demur when testifying!
Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2009 10:13 am
it's OK to be demur when testifying!...from http://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/opinions/05/05-6262.pdf
If judicial modesty is an admirable trait, what about expert witness modesty? A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued a decision that resolves an issue that arises rather infrequently -- "What to do when an expert witness says he isn't really so expert?"
The opinion, written by Circuit Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, reasons: "While overly modest expert witnesses may not be exactly an everyday sort of problem in our legal system, neither can we ignore the prospect of mistakenly excluding a witness who really is expert
but simply too demure to trumpet his or her qualities under cross-examination; it would hardly benefit the legal system to exclude from the stand self-deprecating individuals who rarely testify but have the expertise to do so in favor of those who are more extravagant and savvy to the legal system or who may make their living testifying in our courts."
If judicial modesty is an admirable trait, what about expert witness modesty? A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued a decision that resolves an issue that arises rather infrequently -- "What to do when an expert witness says he isn't really so expert?"
The opinion, written by Circuit Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, reasons: "While overly modest expert witnesses may not be exactly an everyday sort of problem in our legal system, neither can we ignore the prospect of mistakenly excluding a witness who really is expert
but simply too demure to trumpet his or her qualities under cross-examination; it would hardly benefit the legal system to exclude from the stand self-deprecating individuals who rarely testify but have the expertise to do so in favor of those who are more extravagant and savvy to the legal system or who may make their living testifying in our courts."