Joseph B. Evans, J.D.

Communications between non-reporting experts and attorneys are at risk of being subjected to discovery. Under United States v. Kovel and its progeny, the privilege covers experts that are retained “in confidence for the purpose of obtaining legal advice from the…

Are banks afraid of blockchain?  The answer really depends on who is being asked.  But some of the biggest names in banking are “quietly” being proactive by patenting some of the world’s most promising blockchain technologies.  Some of these patent…

For the uninitiated, tax cases are often thought of as binary in nature – either taxes were filed correctly and paid, or they were not. In actuality, they are much more complex. Serious criminal tax investigations and prosecutions cases are…

Defamation cases lie at the intersection of the right to free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment and protecting individuals and companies from being unjustly and publicly impugned.  A hallmark of defamation cases is the dispute over whether or not…

Recently, there has been an epidemic of physicians and their staff becoming embroiled in what are commonly referred to as “Pill Mill” cases.  The general theory of these prosecutions is that the doctors involved have been over-prescribing unneeded or overly expensive…

In recent years, whether a putative securities class is certified or not has been coming down to the expert witnesses involved, as well as their reports and event studies. This is due do the fact that the issues the Court…

Copyright cases often come down to a battle of the experts.  The technical nature of proving liability and the rather complex issue of actual damages and the valuation of lost profits, makes copyright litigation a field where expert witnesses play…

The massive Taxotere multi-district litigation (“MDL”) arises out of a breast cancer chemotherapy drug, which plaintiffs claim has caused the undisclosed side-effect of permanent baldness. As is common in many large-scale pharmaceutical cases, the Taxotere case involves hundreds of claims,…

Materiality is one of the most hotly litigated issues in securities cases, and expert testimony on this topic can be the difference between winning and losing.  In a securities fraud misstatement case, it must be proven that the misstatement or…

Due to the technical subject matter, it can feel as though the cross-examiner is walking into a college classroom and telling the professor how to teach the class.  If an expert witness cross examination is not well-prepared and planned, a…