How to Testify as an Expert Witness in Courts of Law - Useful Tips!

In this article I will provide some tips that forensic investigators or cybersecurity professionals may find useful if ever called upon to testify as an expert witness in a court of law. These tips are based on my personal experience and knowledge as an Expert witness.

You have been hired to carry out an investigation or have been part of an investigation as an expert in forensic auditing, ICT or digital forensics. You prepared a technical report and and now you have been summoned by a court of law to defend your report.

Here are some tips for you.

Tip No. 1: Prepare, prepare, prepare

Remember to prepare before court. You should try to go through your expert/technical report at least three times, and ensure that you are familiar with the key findings and conclusion in the report. You should also able to summarise and explain your report to a non-tecnical audience in Iess than 5 minutes.

Tip No 2: First Impression Matters!

As a tech person, you may not be used to dressing in suits! If you're, then that's a plus. When you appear before a a magistrate or judge to address the Court, all eyes will be on you. Your appearance will help you to boost your credibility and confidence.

Tip No3: Be familiar with the Civil and/or Criminal Procedures of the jurisdiction the Court resides

Knowledge of this will enable you to appreciate how the justice system operates in the jurisdiction you have been invited to testify. It will also enable you to know the litigation procedures followed by the particular Court you are about to testify in. You will also be able to learn about your rights and obligations as an expert witness.

You should try to be familiar with the respective titles used to address Judicial Officers, Magistrates and Judges in the jurisdiction you are operating in.

Tip No 4: Always address the Judge or Magistrate; when asked questions

While in Court, you will be asked by the prosecutor or Counsel to any of the parties before Court, to explain or clarify issues in your expert report; Remember to always address the Judge/magistrate (presiding officer) and not the person who has asked you the question. Your eyes and focus should be on the presiding officer, because this is the person who you want to convince.

Once you notice that the Magistrate or Judge is not paying attention to you, then this is the time to check yourself or take a pause till you get his/her attention.

Presiding Judges or Magistrates prefer to take notes and key points while listening to Testimony. As you testify, try to keep your eyes on the stroke of the Judge's pen, so that he/she does not miss out on key points in your testimony.

Tip No 5: Do not Divert from your Expert Witness Report

As you testify, try to stick to the facts and findings in your Expert Witness report. Be consistent, articulate, concise and do NOT speculate or bring new evidence that is not in your expert report.

As a rule of thumb, you should never say anything outside what you have been asked! The more you elaborate, the likely you may say something that may be picked up by the opposing Counsel to be used against you.

Remember, the opposing counsel will always try to test you confidence and attack your credibility; one easy way is to get you to contradict yourself!

Tip No.6: Understand the Law Related to Digital Evidence

If the investigation involved obtaining evidence from computer systems, then you should familiarise with legislation and lawspertaining to collection, preservation and chain of custody of any digital evidence cited/referenced in your expert report. Chain of custody deals with the procedures methods and tools used to gather, preserve, process and analyse digital evidence for purposes of admissibility in Courts of Law.

You should expect to be asked by the Court to discuss the chain of custody of any digital evidence you handled during the investigation process.

Conclusion

The tips I have highlighted above are not exhaustive per say. I will provide more tips in my next article.

Good luck and I hope you will find these of use to you.

Raphael J. Olowo, BITC, MBA, CISA, CFE