On March 21, 2002, attorney Myra G. Sencer, Esq. addressed the March meeting of the Long Island Chapter of the American Society of Appraisers at the Davenport Press restaurant in Mineola, NY. Ms. Sencer talked about The Expert Witness. What follows is a transcription of her meeting notes.

Qualifying the Witness:

Here are some of the questions an attorney might ask to qualify an appraiser as an expert witness:

• State your name and where you live?
• What is your occupation?
• What is your background in education and relevant
• experience?
• What type of certification do you possess as an
• appraiser?
• What societies do you belong to?
• Are there any tests required to be certified as an appraiser?
• How many times have you appraised this type of item?
• How do you conduct your appraisals?
• Have you testified before as an expert witness? Where?
• How many times have you testified before?
• Have you every testified in this court? On what subject?
• What other types of appraisals do you perform?
• Have you ever been denied as an expert witness by any court?
• Whom do you work for?
• Have you ever testified for a defendant on any proceeding?

Questions After Qualification:

After being qualified, an appraiser might be asked questions like these:

• Were you requested to make an evaluation of (items)?
• What type of items were these?
• Did you see the items?
• Did you speak to the owner of the items?
• How can you value an item you did not see?
• How do you conduct an appraisal?
• How many items have you appraised?
• Is this your appraisal report?
• What was the appraised value that you placed on this group of items?