Working Knowledge: Occupational Sector Differences in Expert Witness Admissibility

• In Event: 161 - Section on Organizations, Occupation and Work Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 11. Bureaucracy, Control, and Authority

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between occupational sectors and expertise. I develop a theoretical model of expertise as an outcome of social interactions that are shaped by employment contexts. I test my approach using mixed methods with data derived from a content analysis of judicial opinions from patent infringement, discrimination, and medical malpractice litigation in the United States. I investigate a sample of expert witnesses employed in the academic, consulting, and private practice sectors whose admissibility into court was contested by opposing lawyers and decided by judges (n=421). Results from binary logistic regression models reveal significant occupational sector differences in (1) the kinds of testimony expert witnesses provide to courts, (2) lawyers’ strategies for barring opposing expert witnesses from testifying, and (3) judges’ decisions to admit or exclude expert witnesses from court. Findings illustrate how employment contexts shape witnesses’ legal status as experts. I conclude by discussing how these findings contribute to sociological understandings of expertise and knowledge-based professions.

Author

• Timothy L O'Brien, University of Evansville