Expert witness work is becoming an option for freelance IT
specialists, but they need to keep up traditional IT work to stay
up-to-date. This is the experience of Gill Hunt, whose work on the
dispute between Co-operative Group and ICL (now Fujitsu) won her
the Consultant of the Year Award in the 2003 BCS IT Professional
Awards.
Hunt started acting as an expert witness while working as a
consultant in 1998. After going independent she took a course run
by the Academy of Experts.
"It can be fascinating to read through project documentation from
start to finish and almost feel relations deteriorating," she said.
"You see the mistakes and what could have been done to put things
right.
"Usually contracts go wrong right at the beginning. When you read
the documentation you can see they were set up wrong, were
underpriced or deadlines were not set properly and so on.
"Sometimes there is a personality clash, someone who will just not
make it work. All projects are a partnership, but that means both
sides have to give and take. Sometimes people do not see it that
way. Customers might say they are paying and will get what they
want, but suppliers can behave badly too, saying they are going to
provide exactly what is being paid for and will not budge."
Expert witnesses are commissioned by one party in a case, but they
must stay independent: their duty is to the court."The expert sits
on a barbed-wire fence," Hunt said. "You might get hit by the
client if you have to say things they do n0t like. But your
overriding duty is to be objective."
Expert witnesses prepare a report that goes to court as their
evidence. They can get called and questioned in detail by
barristers. They also sit with a barrister to advise during
proceedings.
Hunt enjoys the work but believes it is important to do other
things too. "I feel very strongly that experts should practise in
the field, otherwise there is a danger that you might lose touch
with IT generally, which could put you in a weaker position," she
said.
"You need classic consultancy skills: good communication, the
ability to write. Some people decide against it because it is such
a personal responsibility - the outcome of a case can seriously
affect a company.
"You have to be able to look objectively from the outside. You have
to remind yourself to stay a bit outside the client's team: that
can be an uncomfortable position."