How To Become An Expert Witness: What It Is and Career Path

What is an expert witness and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an expert witness. For example, did you know that they make an average of $31.71 an hour? That's $65,959 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 11% and produce 108,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreExpert WitnessUS Average

Salary

5.2

Avg. Salary $65,959

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.8

Growth Rate 11%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.17%

Asian 9.80%

Black or African American 8.39%

Hispanic or Latino 9.12%

Unknown 4.52%

White 68.01%

Gender

female 41.79%

male 58.21%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress Level

6.8

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.7

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

2.2

Work Life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an expert witness

Explore expert witness education requirements

Most common expert witness degrees

Bachelor's

47.6 %

Master's

21.2 %

Doctorate

16.6 %

Start to develop specific expert witness skills

Skills	Percentages
Arbitration	20.90%
Litigation	13.49%
Trial Preparation	7.41%
Child Abuse	6.07%
Private Practice	5.90%

Complete relevant expert witness training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New expert witnesses learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an expert witness based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real expert witness resumes.

Research expert witness duties and responsibilities

Deliver PowerPoint presentations to various legal groups with regard to managing discovery.
Provide expert witness services (plaintiff and defendant) to attorneys and their clients nationwide, relevant to employment practice claims.
Defend opinion atArbitration resulting in successful outcome for the plaintiff.
Assist with preparation of arbitration and trial examination and cross examination.

Prepare your expert witness resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your expert witness resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an expert witness resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Expert Witness Resume templates

Build a professional Expert Witness resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Expert Witness resume.

Apply for expert witness jobs

Now it's time to start searching for an expert witness job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do expert witnesses rate their job?