Financial Expert Witness Communication: A Practical Guide to Reporting and Testimony

CHAPTER 16 Financial Expert Witness Trial Testimony

TYPES OF TRIALS

Civil dispute trials can be conducted with a judge or with a judge and jury. A trial heard exclusively by a judge is called a bench trial. A jury trial is a federal right memorialized in the Seventh Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and covered by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), Rule 38. A jury trial is commenced after a proper demand and notice has been timely filed. Bench and jury trials have differences and a few of these are described next.

Bench

Bench trials have the judge as the sole trier of fact. As such, some of the formalities built into a jury trial proceeding may be relaxed. The judge is more likely to ask the financial expert witness questions directly during direct and cross-examinations. In addition, the admission of the financial expert witness’s testimonial evidence may be more liberal. That is because the judge’s experience and knowledge is better-suited to determine the relevance, weight, and reliability, if any, of such testimony as compared to a jury. All in all, these actions are intended to expedite the trial proceedings in a fair, just, and efficient manner. That is part of the draw for bench trials for some disputing parties.

There is no reason for the financial expert witness to testify differently in a bench trial than he or she would in a jury trial. The judge will ...