Forget that Cisco certification, the real money today is being a technology expert witness.
So writes The New York Times today, noting that “technical specialists and technology-savvy economists” are in high demand when it comes to testifying in IT patent and intellectual property lawsuits. Such expert witnesses can command as much as $1,000 an hour.
The paper says most witnesses don’t wind up on the stand, but instead do the back-end research to help the lawyers: “Most of the work is the kind of tedious and painstaking analysis that a software consultant…might perform in the early stages of a lawsuit, well before it goes to a judge.”
Who cares? Billable hours are billable hours. Put down that protocol analyzer and find a law firm.
