Use of Experts in Employment Litigation: A CLE Primer for In-House Counsel

Many garden-variety employment claims do not need defense expert witnesses, but for high-stakes, big-dollar, and/or collective or class actions, experts should be seriously considered. Strategic deployment of effective experts – ranging from statisticians, forensic computer technologists and human resources professionals to handwriting experts, CPAs and psychiatrists – can be instrumental in winning cases or significantly reducing settlement values. Likewise, in prosecuting noncompete and trade secret claims against former employees, experts can make or break the case.