Expert Witness and Expert Consulting Fees 
For information about our Expert Witness Fees, please contact 415-267-2900.
Preferred pricing rates for multiple cases are available when requested. And of course, expert witness billing rates are always subject to negotiation.
It is a simple fact - litigation is expensive. To appropriately review and analyze a case requires years of subject matter experience, an understanding of multiple subject area disciplines and extensive hours of simple hard work and concentration. It also requires a time commitment to stay ahead of the knowledge curve, so that the expert is aware of industry changes as they occur, rather than reading about them in industry journals after the fact.
Our expert rates have been thoughtfully established based upon the experts depth and length of subject matter experience, expert witness experience, licenses held and education level. The extraordinary and unique qualifications of our experts result in fees which are appropriately based upon their combined industry qualifications, which are very often stronger than others in their field, resulting in comensurately higher fees. However often a single expert can be retained in the place of two or three experts, resulting in substantial cost savings in a case.
If you are interested in meeting or retaining an OpineXpert consultant, contact Cathleen Higgins at her direct dial number of 415-267-0262 or by email at CCH@OpineExperts.com to arrange for a complimentary case evaluation review of 15 to 20 minutes. Time in excess of 20 minutes is subject to regular billing rates which must be paid by credit card, unless waived.
Pricing Overview
Any time estimates provided by staff are “guesstimates” only and are never guaranteed or binding. Unfortunately, we have been unable to find any rules of thumb we can provide to our clients regarding the number of hours a case will take to prepare. However, we can provide this guidance:
Deposition Prep: Generally, simple cases will require at least 20 hours of work to properly and adequately review the case materials, analyze the depositions and exhibits and prepare for the deposition. Complex cases will require 40 hours or more, depending upon the number of depositions and exhibits.
Trial Prep: Assuming the trial and deposition are relatively close in time and no new materials are added, the secondary review preparation for the trial testimony can be approximately 20-30% of the time spent in deposition preparation.
Use of Name Policy: Clients are not authorized to use the name of Lightner Property Group, any of its experts, staff members, nor the name of its affiliate OPINEXPERTS, until an Initial Deposit has been tendered, a conflicts check has been completed and an Engagement Agreement has been signed and delivered.
The cost of expert witness services is entirely driven by the volume of materials provided to the expert. The more depositions and exhibits to review and understand, the higher the cost. Providing documents but indicating they do not need to be reviewed does not reduce the cost, but actually increases the cost. The expert is forced to review the materials, at least casually in order to determine they are not necessary to establish the expert opinion. It is better for the attorney to not provide the materials they do not want reviewed.
