Adventure Sports Consulting and Expert Witnessing

Consulting can be a lucrative business and requires a solid foundation of skills and competence. It’s no place for wannabe’s and charlatans. In return for the large paycheck, consultants have an ethical responsibility to work hard and a legal one to represent themselves honestly. Often, lives depend on the consultant’s ability to analyze or improvise safely under adverse and threatening conditions.

Consulting can be about anything. Among the common consulting gigs are film crewing, expert witnessing, adventure tourism management, and military training. This article focuses on the first two. For more information on Going Pro, see other articles in the series.

An expert witness is a witness who due to a combination of knowledge, skill, training, education, and experience is believed to have knowledge and authority in a particular subject beyond that of the average person. A lawyer, the judge, and a jury rely on the expert’s opinion about facts or evidence regarding technical matters, accident analysis, and standards of care. An experts witness often makes or breaks a case.

Again, this is where reputation and years of experience in the sport become the expert’s greatest marketing tool. Establishment as an expert through verifiable and reliable certifications and through authorship of authoritative books or articles also help make an expert attractive. The legal system likes witnesses who are well versed in medical issues and trial procedures. A paralegal or paramedical (EMT or Paramedic) background is a bonus.

They pay is good. It’s not unusual to get $400 or more per hour plus expenses. Asking for less will make both sides question the validity of the expert’s qualifications.