Looking at a current trial in the news related to a former pirate and his ex-wife which has been generating tons of buzz on social media, it made us think about expert witness testimony we’ve given in the past and in particular how it’s critical to not only understand someone’s qualifications before choosing them as your expert witness, but more importantly how they present themselves in front of a courtroom/jury.
This brings up the question as to whether you should hire a social media expert witness that’s physically close to where the case is being heard or someone close to your law firm where you can easily interview them beforehand. And many times firms want that personal connection – the ability to read the other person as if they were on the stand – before pulling the trigger.
Aside from location, going back to qualifications, when looking at social media most expert witnesses will use third-party analytics tools to discover insights then present/testify based on the results combined with their experience/insights, however in using third-party tools with no clarity as to how they actually came up with metrics leaves a big margin for error.
Soteria Intelligence has guided a variety of high-profile cases and our insights are driven by 15+ years of experience in analyzing social media behaviors and big data in general as well as an issued utility patent on our deep learning (AI) social media ecosystem that’s used by enterprises throughout the world.
In a nutshell, law firms and in-house counsel are in a balancing act when deciding between local expert witnesses and others that, though not local, could maybe have a much greater impact and help secure a win.
If you’re involved in a case related to social media and looking for guidance, let’s connect and explore what’s possible.