Hourly rate for expert witness - Page 2

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I'm employed as an engineer in Canada. My hourly rate is $205/hr. For legal services, including acting as an expert witness, I charge 1.5 times my hourly rate.

Hope that helps.

You have not given us enough information. What is your field, credentials, background? What is the subject about which you are being asked to testify? Are there many others in the field who can offer this same testimony? How much is at stake in the case? Where is the case pending? Who is the ultimate client?

^Also, please include your mother's maiden name, the street you lived on as a child, and your first pet's name.

What legal services do you provide other than being an expert witness?

Not too many, but he charges 2x for the extralegal ones.

You should charge more if you and your "client" have already decided what your expert opinion is. No sense selling your soul cheaply. People should get a discount for impartiality.

BKK -

I'd put you as a software engineer or so. Minimum would be $250/hr. But if it's a million dollar lawsuit, then your cost is insignificant. So $250/hr or $350/hr makes no difference to them. So I'd then go with $350/hr. $425 is possible, too. After that, I'd hesitate to hire you. If you think you could lost the gig due to cost, $350 is safe.

And if it is contractor company and then a law firm, the law firm is just going to pass the cost along anyway. Again, they won't care about the cost. But factor in the contracting firm percentage. I.e, don't have them raise a $425/hr cost - it'll get too high. Guide them with this if needed. Say, ok, I'll take $375/hr, you get the $50/hr (or whatever).

A former firm I was with paid $250 and billed $450.

Not arguing with what your experience has been, obviously. Just strikes me as odd, given that in the jurisdictions I'm familiar with the expert's rates are required to be disclosed either in their initial report or in some other discovery vehicle. At least for experts with some experience under their belt, it means their rates -- at least what they've charged in the past -- are a matter of public record. My sense -- and again, your experience may be completely different -- is that lawyers are often vague about what they charge because they don't necessarily have a single fixed rate and want to leave room to negotiate depending on the client, the type of case, how busy they are, etc. You don't want potential client X to know you're charging client Y $250/hour if you're planning to ask X for $300/hour. To the OP, I'd say that based on the subject matter, etc. the last few posts are in the ballpark of what I would think is reasonable, although completely off the top of my head I'd say that something in the $200-$300 range sounds more in line with what I'd expect than something north of $350 (although, as someone suggested, the amount at stake in the lawsuit might influence how price-sensitive the potential employer is).

If this is BN being sued by Spring Design charge $1,000.00 an hour. They can afford it.