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Expert witness vs subject matter expert

The differences between expert witnesses and subject matter experts can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an expert witness and a subject matter expert. Additionally, a subject matter expert has an average salary of $103,749, which is higher than the $65,959 average annual salary of an expert witness.

The top three skills for an expert witness include arbitration, litigation and trial preparation. The most important skills for a subject matter expert are SME, project management, and DOD.

Expert witness vs subject matter expert overview

Expert WitnessSubject Matter Expert
Yearly salary$65,959$103,749
Hourly rate$31.71$49.88
Growth rate11%11%
Number of jobs12,53458,235
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 48%Bachelor's Degree, 57%
Average age4444
Years of experience44

Expert witness vs subject matter expert salary

Expert witnesses and subject matter experts have different pay scales, as shown below.

Expert WitnessSubject Matter Expert
Average salary$65,959$103,749
Salary rangeBetween $45,000 And $95,000Between $73,000 And $146,000
Highest paying City-San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state-California
Best paying company-Apple
Best paying industry-Energy

Differences between expert witness and subject matter expert education

There are a few differences between an expert witness and a subject matter expert in terms of educational background:

Expert WitnessSubject Matter Expert
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 48%Bachelor's Degree, 57%
Most common majorNursingBusiness
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaNorthwestern University

Expert witness vs subject matter expert demographics

Here are the differences between expert witnesses' and subject matter experts' demographics:

Expert WitnessSubject Matter Expert
Average age4444
Gender ratioMale, 58.2% Female, 41.8%Male, 63.8% Female, 36.2%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 8.4% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 9.1% Asian, 9.8% White, 68.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%Black or African American, 8.2% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 9.0% Asian, 12.1% White, 66.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage12%12%

Differences between expert witness and subject matter expert duties and responsibilities

Expert witness example responsibilities.

  • Deliver PowerPoint presentations to various legal groups with regard to managing discovery.
  • Provide expert witness services (plaintiff and defendant) to attorneys and their clients nationwide, relevant to employment practice claims.
  • Defend opinion atArbitration resulting in successful outcome for the plaintiff.
  • Assist with preparation of arbitration and trial examination and cross examination.
  • Assist companies and their attorneys in litigation procedures and abatement verification.
  • Organize litigation support records, prepare contracts, and verify banking information.
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Subject matter expert example responsibilities.

  • Prepare custom perl scripts to automate various monitoring functions.
  • Manage PKI SSL web certificates for Linux and Unix servers.
  • Manage the multiple CSS's require by the different organizations.
  • Develop stored procedures and complex packages using PL/SQL, manage DBA activities.
  • Manage the on-the-job training (OJT) of all new personnel on equipment and SIGINT analytical procedures
  • Participate in and hold daily scrum meetings to perform iterative and incremental agile software development framework when managing product development.
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Expert witness vs subject matter expert skills

Common expert witness skills
  • Arbitration, 21%
  • Litigation, 13%
  • Trial Preparation, 7%
  • Child Abuse, 6%
  • Private Practice, 6%
  • Mental Health, 6%
Common subject matter expert skills
  • SME, 18%
  • Project Management, 6%
  • DOD, 6%
  • Logistics, 4%
  • Customer Service, 4%
  • Windows, 4%

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