▪︎ Do You Have What It Takes to be a Good Expert Witness? An Attorney’s Guide For Nurses Who Want to be an Expert Witness.

Nursing Law Center

As an attorney who hires medical and nursing experts, and testifies as an expert myself, I can tell you this: most nurses who are curious about expert witness work are far closer to being qualified than they think—but many are not prepared for what the job actually requires.

Expert witness work isn’t just about having opinions. It’s about having defensible, well-supported professional judgments that can withstand scrutiny from opposing counsel, the judge, and a jury. In litigation, you should assume that everything you say, write, and rely upon can be challenged. So, you need to have good verbal and written skills.

If you’re a nurse or legal nurse consultant (LNC) exploring expert witness work, here’s what I want you to understand before you put “expert witness” on your website or accept your first case.

🧠 What an Expert Witness Actually Does (and Doesn’t Do)

Let’s clear up a common misconception:

An expert witness is not a “medical storyteller.”
You are not there to narrate the chart, advocate for one side, or fill gaps in the record.

You are there to do three things:

  1. Explain the standards of care relevant to the facts of the case (what a reasonably prudent nurse would do under similar circumstances).
  2. Apply those standards to the facts of the case.
  3. Educate the jury in a way that is accurate, neutral in tone, and grounded in accepted nursing practice.

You are not there to “win the case.” You are there to explain the facts and standards in a structured, professional way, even if it doesn’t help the side that hired you.

Ironically, that is exactly what makes you valuable.

In most jurisdictions, being an expert is not about being the “best nurse in the room.”

It’s about whether you have:

  • Knowledge
  • Skill
  • Experience
  • Training
  • Education

…that will help the attorneys, a jury, and the judge, understand the evidence and any medical/nursing facts in dispute.

In plain language: Do you have relevant nursing expertise, and can you explain it clearly and credibly?

That’s it.

And yes—your experience as a bedside nurse, supervisor, educator, or specialist can absolutely qualify you.

⚖️ The Part Nurses Often Miss: Your Specialty Must Match the Case

This is where many smart nurses unintentionally make a mistake.

From the attorney’s side, one of the first questions I ask is:

“Does this nurse’s clinical background match the clinical setting of the case?”

For example:

  • If the case involves ED triage, I want an ED nurse.
  • If it involves labor and delivery, I want an L&D nurse.
  • If it involves ICU sepsis management, I want ICU experience.
  • If it involves home health, I want someone who has actually worked home health.

A strong nursing resume does not automatically translate into expert witness qualification if the specialty does not align.

💼 You Are Not Hired for Credentials—You’re Hired for Credibility

Nurses often assume expert work is about stacking letters after your name.

Let me be blunt:

The courtroom does not reward impressive credentials if your testimony isn’t supportable, consistent, and practical.

What attorneys want most is:

  • A nurse who can explain nursing practice in plain English
  • A nurse who can stay calm under pressure
  • A nurse who can stick to the record
  • A nurse who can avoid exaggeration
  • A nurse who can concede what should be conceded

That last one matters more than you think.

A nurse who admits a reasonable point when appropriate often becomes more credible—not less.

Many LNCs start consulting “behind the scenes” and later move into expert work. That’s a natural progression.

But these roles are not the same.

The LNC role (consulting)

As an LNC, you may:

  • Summarize records
  • Create timelines
  • Identify missing documentation
  • Flag deviations from standards of care
  • Help attorneys understand the medical story

LNC work can be very valuable—but it is typically non-testifying.

👩‍⚖️ The expert witness role (testifying)

As an expert witness, you may:

  • Write expert reports or declarations
  • Give deposition testimony
  • Testify at trial
  • Provide opinions on standard of care and causation (depending on your scope)

This is a higher-risk role. You are no longer “behind the scenes”.

And once you testify, your background becomes discoverable – meaning your prior testimony, reports, marketing, and even social media may be examined and brought up during your testimony.

💪 The Real Job: Withstanding Cross-Examination

If you want to be an expert witness, you must accept this truth:

You are not being hired to be right. You are being hired to be credible under cross-examination.

Opposing counsel will look for:

  • Overstatements (“always,” “never,” “no nurse would…”)
  • Unsupported opinions
  • Reliance on “how we did it at my hospital”
  • Failure to review all relevant records
  • Gaps in your CV
  • Inconsistent positions from prior cases
  • Any hint of advocacy

Cross-examination is not personal – although it can feel that way at times. You must have the temperament to tolerate it without becoming defensive, sarcastic, or argumentative.

📝 The Hidden Skill: Writing a Defensible Report

A strong nursing expert report is not necessarily long – it’s well written and structured.

A credible report usually includes:

  • The materials reviewed (every record listed)
  • A concise clinical summary
  • The standard of care (clearly defined)
  • The specific deviations (tied to facts and timestamps)
  • The clinical significance of each deviation
  • Clear, restrained conclusions

The best expert reports read like this:

“Here is what happened. Here is what should have happened. Here is where the care deviated. Here is why it matters.”

Not:

“This was negligent and outrageous and the hospital failed in every way.”

If your report sounds like a closing argument, it will lose power—and it may not survive.

😨 One Risk of Testifying is Drifting Outside Your Scope of Practice

This is a major issue for nursing experts.

A nurse expert can testify about:

  • Nursing standards of care
  • Nursing assessment and monitoring
  • Communication and escalation
  • Documentation
  • Patient safety practices
  • Policies, procedures, and reasonable nursing actions

But many nurses drift into:

  • Medical diagnosis
  • Physician decision-making
  • Complex causation opinions
  • Speculation about what “must have happened”

That drift is where opposing counsel will attack you.

A nurse expert is most powerful when they stay in the lane of nursing practice and patient safety—and explain it exceptionally well.

❓ Are You Qualified Right Now? Ask Yourself These Questions

If you’re considering expert witness work, I’d ask you to answer these honestly:

  • Have I worked in this specialty within the last 5–10 years?
  • Can I explain what I did and why in plain language?
  • Am I comfortable being challenged?
  • Can I defend my opinions with standards, policies, and evidence?
  • Can I say “I don’t know” without panicking?
  • Can I remain professional even if the attorney questioning me is aggressive?

If your answer is “yes” to most of those, you’re closer than you think.

If your answer is “no,” you may still become qualified—but you should prepare before taking cases.

🤝 What Attorneys Look For When Hiring a Nurse Expert

When I’m hiring a nurse expert witness, I’m looking for:

  • Specialty match
  • Clear and current clinical experience
  • Strong writing ability
  • Calm, steady demeanor
  • No exaggeration
  • Willingness to review the entire record
  • A CV that can survive scrutiny
  • Professionalism in emails and phone calls

And yes, I’m also watching for whether you seem like someone who will become combative.

Because the reality is: if you become difficult, the case becomes harder.

🤔 Final Thought: The Nurses Who Make the Best Experts

The best nurse expert witnesses are not the loudest, most opinionated, or most credentialed.

They are the ones who are:

  • Clinically grounded
  • Intellectually honest
  • Calm under pressure
  • Able to teach
  • Able to say “this was reasonable” when it was
  • Able to say “this fell below standard” when it did

Successful expert witnesses don’t rely on clinical experience alone—they prepare, and they understand the legal framework they are stepping into. In my experience as an attorney, the nurses who perform best in deposition and at trial are the ones who understand core legal concepts like the standard of care, foreseeability, causation, foundation, and the difference between facts, assumptions, and opinions. They also know how to write a defensible report, stay within scope, and avoid the common traps that opposing counsel uses to undermine credibility. That is exactly why I created the expert witness training courses designed to give nurses and legal nurse consultants practical, courtroom-relevant preparation – not just theory – so they can step into the expert role with confidence, clarity, and professionalism.

Some of my courses that I have developed to prepare nurses to act as an expert witness (which include the Federal Rules that govern what an expert can testify to and what must be included in their reports) are:

The course includes over 90 pages of detailed expert reports, timelines, graphs, and more.

  • Advanced Workshops: Each Workshop includes a two-hour video training module and 30-55 pages of step-by-step instructions and sample reports and documents. (Just click on the title of each Workshop for a detailed list of the topics covered and the extensive documents included.)

1. Write and Polish Your LNC and Expert Resume – One of the most important documents you’ll write.

2. How to Write Your Fee Schedule and Retainer Agreement – How to make sure you get paid.

3. How to Write Your Cover Letter / Email – How to highlight your experience.

4. Malpractice Case Deep Dives– Improve Your Analysis Skills.

5. How to Write Your LNC and Expert Witness Reports.– We provide you with over 7 real reports.

6. How to Create Chronologies, Graphs, and Timelines for Your LNC and Expert Reports. – We teach you how to enhance your reports by making graphs and timelines.

7. Mastering Current LNC Marketing Strategies – Part 1. – How to market on LinkedIn, create your elevator speech, and blog.

8. Mastering Current LNC Marketing Strategies – Part 2. – How to exhibit at legal conferences, develop a website, and much more!

I also offer live coaching so I can help prepare you for deposition and trial testimony.

Good Luck with your career as a nurse expert witness!

Sincerely,

Laurie Elston JD, BSN

www.NursingLawCenter.com

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