Stand and deliver

Gary France heaves two door stop-sized files out of a cupboard. "I am never going to do it again," puffs the Mace director. He is telling me about his single experience of being an expert witness. His advice to anyone thinking of doing the same is to find out as much as you can about what's involved before you commit.

The two 500-page tomes he's just dropped on the desk are the reports he prepared as an expert witness on the case of London's Great Eastern Hotel versus John Laing in 2005. Compiling them took him a harrowing 18 months and many 16-hour days. Expert witness work is "five times harder than most people think", says France.

And he was one of the experts to emerge well from this case. The presiding judge Justice David Wilcox commended France in his verdict. Another expert, Tony Caletka, came in for withering criticism from the judge.

It all sounds pretty gruelling. So it's surprising when France says: "Did I enjoy it? I actually did... In fact I revelled in it."

Expert witness work is a doubled edged affair. It's hard graft, you need to be meticulous and you must have unshakable confidence in your professional expertise. You must also be ready for a public grilling from a giant-brained barrister or even a judge. On the flipside, it can be immensely rewarding, both financially and terms of job satisfaction.

The first thing that makes the expert's role so tough is the sheer volume of work involved and the thoroughness required. With a shiver France remembers the huge room filled to the rafters with files on the Great Eastern project. He had to read every one.

He says the scheme was complex - part new build and part refurbishment of the existing hotel - and all on a difficult site in the middle of Liverpool Street. It also involved an array of types of construction: steel work, concrete, basement works and refurb.

France was carrying out a delay analysis. He says: "I had to find out what went wrong and who was to blame. The biggest problem I had was dealing with hundreds of thousands of bits of paper."

He had help from a team of researchers, numbering six people at times, but he says they could only help to a point because he needed to know exactly what each researcher was doing.

There is no way around this forensic approach. Daniel Rowe, who runs QS firm Jackson Rowe Associates in Sussex, is an experienced expert witness. He says you must know your report backwards and it needs to stand up. The opposing side will comb it for weaknesses and if you do end up on the witness stand "the barrister will try to rip you to shreds". Rowe warns, "a barrister never asks a question he doesn't already know the answer to".

I like the cut and thrust of the law. You get a different problem every time

John Goodman, John Goodman Associates

If the judge isn't satisfied with your work, you might also face criticism in the verdict, as Caletka, now head of international operations at Greyhawk, did on the Great Eastern case. Judge Wilcox branded Caletka "lacking in thoroughness in his research and unreliable by reason of his uncritical acceptance of the favourable accounts put forward by Laing". Such judgments are officially recorded and the expert witness has no right to reply. Admittedly Caletka has worked for Laing again since the Great Eastern case. However, finding yourself on the wrong side of the judge in this way can't be ideal if you are hoping to work as an expert witness regularly.

The career destroying potential of the job is best shown by the example of medical expert witness Professor Sir Roy Meadow. He gave evidence in the 1999 trial of Sally Clark, who was convicted of murdering her two infant sons. It was later found that his evidence was erroneous and he was struck off.

Acting the part

Taking the stand is either the most terrifying or exhilarating part of the work, depending on your point of view. France spent a day and a half on the stand. He says: "I was really nervous but once you're over the initial shock of being fired with questions, you settle down and start answering questions you know the answers to."

David Tuffin, a seasoned expert witness and incoming RICS president, relishes the challenge. "I find it tremendously exciting," he says.

"Remember the whole scenario is a kind of theatre," he advises. "The barrister representing the other side will do his best to discredit you and make you feel foolish. You may have feelings of hate when you're in the witness box but you should just regard him as an actor in the play. It's never personal and it won't do to give as good as you get. Your job is to stay cool."

He adds: "When you finish and you feel you've done well you get a tremendous rush of adrenalin - and afterwards you might even go for a drink with the barrister."

France says expert witnesses must be good communicators. "The judge doesn't understand the details of the construction business, so the best thing you can do is make it simple for the judge. I found the best way was to draw pictures of things."

Tony Caletka advises taking a course with London legal training consultancy Bond Solon or the Expert Witness Institute. This should ensure you're not surprised when you give evidence or are cross examined for the first time, he says. Having been cross-examined on more than 15 instances, it's not an enviable experience even when you are well prepared. It's an adversarial process by design and the QCs are extremely capable and technically knowledgeable, which can make the experience unsettling without proper preparation."

The barrister will try to rip you to shreds

Daniel Rowe, Jackson Rowe Associates

Your relationships with the other protagonists on the case are another tricky area. Experts are typically (but not always) hired by a party on one side of the dispute. Despite this, they have a duty to provide a totally impartial report to the tribunal. In other words, your evidence could end up sinking your client's case. Rowe says: "You have to remember that your duty is not to the client. This is a source of great confusion to clients. Despite being told otherwise, often they believe your duty is to them and some won't want to pay your fee if they're on the losing side."

But he says it is vital to keep your independence intact, because this builds your reputation, which leads to more commissions.

Attractions

Rowe, unlike Gary France, is among those eager for more commissions. So what's the attraction? The work can be highly lucrative. Tuffin says fees can be around £200-300 an hour or higher. For smaller cases the solicitor may ask you to put a cap on your fees. Tuffin says: "How much you can charge depends on how much of a specialist you are. But if your fees are queried by your solicitor, simply smile sweetly and say you'll be happy to work for the rate that they are on."

It's also satisfying work for many. Veteran expert witness John Goodman, founder of QS John Goodman Associates, describes a recent case: "A huge developer assigned an option with a family to buy a chunk of land. On one side you have a very naïve farming family and on the other, the giant developer. I have to go and look at the land and renegotiate the deal. I like the cut and thrust of the law. You get a different problem every time."

Jonathan Cope from construction consultancy MCMS is an expert witness building surveyor. He says: "I enjoy working with the legal profession - the legal process can be fascinating - and I enjoy the challenge of investigating something and then giving my opinion on it."

He adds that expert witnesses can progress to roles where they make the judgements in disputes, such as adjudicator or expert determiner.

If all this appeals to you, Goodman says the key to being a successful witness is preparation. "Being on the stand has never bothered me because I have all my evidence stacked up, I get lots of photos and blow them up - judges like that. I look neat and tidy and I answer without hesitation."

Meticulous preparation appears to be why France performed so well in the Great Eastern case. "I had done my research so well. The idea was to know the answer to anything that I could be asked," he says.