Expert Witness Agreement - Alabama

EXPERT WITNESS ENGAGEMENT AGREEMENT — ALABAMA STATE-COURT MATTER

Effective date: [__/__/____]

This agreement is between:

Retaining counsel / firm: [________________________________]

Alabama State Bar No.: [________________________________]

Address: [________________________________]

Client: [________________________________]

and

Expert / expert firm: [________________________________]

Primary expert: [________________________________]

Address: [________________________________]

The parties agree as follows.

1. Matter and Role Classification

Select the Expert's present role:

• ☐ Consulting expert only; not presently expected to testify

• ☐ Expert expected to testify at trial

• ☐ Role not yet determined; counsel will confirm it in writing before disclosure or testimony

Alabama Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5) treats an expert expected to testify differently from an expert retained or specially employed in anticipation of litigation who is not expected to testify. A change of role may change discovery obligations. Retaining Counsel shall confirm any role change in writing.

This form is limited to an Alabama state civil action. It is not a federal Rule 26(a)(2) report agreement and should not be used without a separate federal-court review if the Matter is removed, transferred, or filed in federal court.

2. Scope of Services

The Expert will perform only the selected services:

• ☐ Review records and materials

• ☐ Inspect a person, place, product, property, or data set

• ☐ Conduct testing or calculations described in Exhibit A

• ☐ Consult with counsel

• ☐ Prepare demonstratives

• ☐ Prepare an affidavit, declaration, or report if required

• ☐ Attend deposition

• ☐ Testify at hearing or trial

• ☐ Rebuttal work expressly authorized in writing

• ☐ Other: [________________________________]

Assigned subjects: [________________________________]

Excluded subjects: [________________________________]

The Expert shall not expand the assignment, contact a represented party, perform destructive testing, disclose confidential matter information, or retain another testifying expert without Retaining Counsel's written approval.

3. Qualifications, Opinions, and Method

Alabama Rule of Evidence 702(a) permits testimony from a witness qualified by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education when specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact. For scientific testimony in covered civil state-court actions, Rule 702(b) additionally requires sufficient facts or data, reliable principles and methods, and reliable application to the case facts. Rule 702(c) preserves the separate Alabama Medical Liability Act framework.

The Expert shall:

1. provide a current curriculum vitae and identify all licenses, certifications, publications, prior testimony, discipline, exclusions, and material qualification limits requested by counsel;
2. use only opinions the Expert can state independently and support from identified facts, data, principles, methods, and applications;
3. distinguish facts supplied by others, assumptions, measurements, calculations, professional judgment, and legal instructions from counsel;
4. identify missing information, uncertainty, alternative explanations, limitations, and any change in an opinion promptly;
5. decline any compensation tied to the outcome, amount recovered, or substance of an opinion; and
6. review and approve every final opinion, report, declaration, demonstrative, or correction issued in the Expert's name.

Profession-specific standard or licensing rule requiring separate review: [________________________________]

Medical-liability matter? ☐ No ☐ Yes — Alabama counsel has completed the separate statutory qualification review.

4. Disclosure and Discovery Instructions

For an expert expected to testify, Ala. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(5)(A1)(i) permits interrogatories seeking the expert's identity, subject matter, substance of facts and opinions, and a summary of the grounds for each opinion. Further expert discovery under Rule 26(b)(5)(A1)(ii) depends on a court order and any restrictions or fee provisions the court imposes.

For a consulting expert not expected to testify, Rule 26(b)(5)(B) limits discovery to Rule 35(b) or exceptional circumstances under which obtaining equivalent facts or opinions by other means is impracticable. This contract does not create privilege, work-product protection, or confidentiality against a discovery rule, subpoena, or court order.

Retaining Counsel will provide written instructions governing:

The Expert shall promptly send any subpoena, records request, interview request, or opposing-counsel communication to Retaining Counsel and shall not respond substantively until counsel provides instructions, except when a controlling order or law requires otherwise.

5. Scheduling and Supplementation

Ala. R. Civ. P. 26(e) requires seasonable supplementation concerning the identity of an expert expected to testify, the subject matter, and the substance of the testimony, and requires amendment when a prior discovery response is materially incorrect or no longer true in circumstances amounting to knowing concealment. The Expert shall therefore notify Retaining Counsel promptly of a changed opinion, basis, qualification, conflict, availability issue, or factual assumption; counsel remains responsible for the party's disclosure response.

No date in this agreement replaces the court's order. If dates conflict, the parties shall document a revised work plan immediately.

6. Materials, Testing, and Chain of Custody

The materials initially provided are listed in Exhibit B. For physical evidence, source data, images, recordings, specimens, or devices, the Expert shall record receipt, condition, storage, access, testing, alteration, transfer, and return.

• ☐ No destructive testing is authorized.

• ☐ Destructive testing is authorized only by the written protocol dated [__/__/____].

The Expert shall not discard or overwrite matter materials until Retaining Counsel gives written disposition instructions consistent with the controlling preservation duties and court orders.

7. Fees and Expenses

The parties select the following commercial terms; no term is represented as a court-awarded amount:

Advance deposit: $[________], credited against invoices.

Invoice frequency: [________________________________]

Payment due: [________] days after receipt.

Pre-approved expense limit: $[________].

Under Ala. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(5)(C), the court addresses reasonable expert fees and certain expenses for expert discovery covered by that subsection. Any amount paid by an opposing party will be handled as follows: ☐ credited to Client ☐ credited against the Expert's invoice ☐ other reviewed treatment: [________________________________].

No automatic interest, collection charge, attorney-fee shift, nonrefundable fee, or outcome-based compensation applies unless stated in a separately reviewed written addendum.

8. Independence, Conflicts, and Communications

The Expert confirms that:

• ☐ the conflict search described in Exhibit C is complete;

• ☐ all identified relationships and prior work have been disclosed;

• ☐ the compensation arrangement does not depend on outcome or opinion; and

• ☐ the Expert will give independent professional conclusions, including conclusions unfavorable to Client.

The Expert shall not communicate publicly about the Matter, use matter information for marketing, or publish case-specific material without written authorization and any required court approval.

9. Confidentiality and Record Handling

The Expert shall use nonpublic matter information only for the assigned Services and disclose it only to persons authorized by Retaining Counsel or required by controlling law or order. This contractual duty does not prevent legally required disclosure and does not promise that drafts, notes, communications, or work papers are immune from discovery.

Approved support personnel: [________________________________]

Each approved person shall be bound in writing to compatible confidentiality, security, conflict, and preservation duties. Matter information shall be stored and transmitted using: [________________________________].

At the end of the Matter, the Expert shall follow Retaining Counsel's written instruction to return, preserve, or securely destroy records. No universal five-year retention period is created by this agreement.

10. Suspension, Withdrawal, and Termination

Either party may end unperformed Services on written notice, subject to any subpoena, court order, disclosed deadline, professional obligation, or other controlling requirement. Before suspending work for nonpayment or availability, the Expert shall give Retaining Counsel prompt written notice identifying affected deadlines so counsel can seek replacement services or court relief if needed.

On termination, the Expert shall:

1. stop unauthorized work;
2. identify all pending deadlines and incomplete tasks;
3. provide an itemized final invoice;
4. preserve and transfer matter materials as counsel directs; and
5. cooperate reasonably with an orderly transition at the agreed rates.

Termination does not authorize destruction, concealment, alteration, or withholding of material that must be preserved, produced, returned, or made available under a court order or other controlling requirement.

11. General Contract Terms

This agreement and its completed exhibits state the parties' entire expert engagement for the Matter. A change must be in a writing accepted by Retaining Counsel and the Expert. Neither party may transfer the expert assignment without the other's written agreement.

The parties have not included arbitration, a predispute jury waiver, indemnification, a liability cap, automatic injunctive relief, or automatic prevailing-party fees. If the parties want any such risk-allocation term, Alabama counsel should prepare a separate matter-specific addendum after reviewing scope, enforceability, insurance, professional duties, and effects on the underlying litigation.

Counterparts and an approved electronic-signature process may be used only after the parties confirm the intended signing method below.

Approved signing method: [________________________________]

12. Signatures

Client acknowledgment of payment responsibility, if applicable:

Signature: ______________________________

Name: [________________________________]

Date: [__/__/____]

EXHIBIT A — ASSIGNMENT AND METHOD PLAN

EXHIBIT B — MATERIALS LOG

EXHIBIT C — QUALIFICATIONS AND CONFLICT CHECK

• ☐ Current curriculum vitae attached

• ☐ Licenses and certifications checked as of [__/__/____]

• ☐ Publications and prior testimony collected as requested

• ☐ Discipline, exclusion, and challenge history requested

• ☐ Conflict search completed against all parties, counsel, insurers, witnesses, and material entities

• ☐ Potential conflict or prior relationship disclosed: [________________________________]

Sources and References

• Alabama Rule of Evidence 702
• Alabama Rule of Civil Procedure 26

Currency check: The official Rule 702 PDF records its amendment effective January 1, 2012. The official Rule 26 PDF records amendments through December 21, 2018. This agreement retains no Alabama statutory citation requiring a state-bill amendment-index search.