Don't work for sleazy lawyers

Asked if appraisers should reveal past "failures" to the lawyers who hire them for new cases, attorney Stephen Kolodny confirmed that the fact that a court disagreed with or criticized your past work is not admissable. But, Kolodny wants to "know what lawyers you've worked for before I hire you. There are lots of sleazy lawyers, and if you've worked for them regularly, I worry that you'll be 'tainted' in the judges' eyes." This is a strong argument for turning down work from problematic lawyers. "So, let us know. We can clean up past issues if we know about them, on direct examination. It's when we don't know about issues until we get into court that we have problems."

Moderator Jay Fishman reminds appraisers new to expert testimony that the odds are the opposing counsel knows all your past work, incluing any time your testimony has not been admitted. "You can't fool around with the truth when you're in the big leagues," he says.