Expert opinion

This is reasonably interesting and unusual - I'm currently acting as an expert in a court case. I'm providing expert opinion as a mathematical modeller in a divorce case. I'm not exactly sure what I can and can't, should and shouldn't talk about regarding the case or the report, so I'll stick to my experiences in doing it for the purposes of the post.

Essentially I was required to construct a mathematical model to determine financial impact of a person on a farm. The work itself was relatively simple. What was interesting was the way it has to be presented to the court. For starters, I provide opinion/advice to the court, not to the people who pay me/hire me for my services. Naturally you have to be impartial and attempt to keep any bias from your modelling and reporting. The report itself is kind of like an executive summary - I shuffled the entirety of the mathematics (only 2 pages though) to an appendix, spending the front end instead describing my credentials, the methodology itself (ie what exactly is mathematical modelling), the assumptions and how genuine I think they are, and then a simple conclusion. Most of the space was taken up by me saying that I was telling the truth, believed what I was saying etc and explaining my opinion that ANY mathematical model will only be an approximation and so forth.

Here's something exciting for the soon to be academics out there: this type of work can score you $250/hr plus. I didn't charge anything because I know the people involved in the case, but now that I know about this, I'll be on the look out for court cases, trust me :-) Court appearance, if needed, is also paid at a higher rate than that even, and includes travel, sustenance and accommodation if necessary. Indeed the consultancy work bandwagon is one I need to get on.