springheadlabs
validating demandExpert witnesses & the attorneys who retain them

The Rule 26 / Daubert expert-report checklist

A plain-English checklist for structuring an expert report that survives a challenge.

A federal expert report under FRCP 26(a)(2)(B) gets challenged on the boring stuff — a thin basis-and-reasons section, an incomplete list of prior testimony, an exhibit that isn't actually attached. The rule is public; the failure modes are well-worn; and yet a thin report still gets experts limited or excluded under Daubert.

What a Rule 26(a)(2)(B) report must contain

The rule itself spells out the required pieces. A compliant written report must include:

  1. A complete statement of all opinions the witness will express, and the basis and reasons for them.
  2. The facts or data the witness considered in forming them.
  3. Any exhibits that will be used to summarize or support them.
  4. The witness's qualifications, including all publications from the last 10 years.
  5. A list of all other cases in which the witness testified (at trial or deposition) in the previous 4 years.
  6. A statement of the compensation to be paid for the study and testimony.

Miss or thin out any one of these and you've handed the other side an easy motion.

Where reports get attacked

Beyond the checklist of parts, the predictable challenges are to the reasoning: an opinion stated without a method, a method stated without showing it was applied to the facts of this case, a leap from data to conclusion that a cross-examiner can widen. The fixes are structural, and they're knowable in advance.

The checklist

So we're building the un-glamorous thing that helps: a plain-English checklist that walks every required piece of a 26(a)(2)(B) report and the common ways each one gets attacked — drawn from the rule and public case law, written for the expert producing the report and the attorney reviewing it before it goes out. It's a structure check, not legal advice.

This is a Springhead Labs experiment — we're testing whether it's actually wanted before we build it. Drop your email and we'll send the checklist the moment it's ready (and nothing else). If enough people want it, it gets built in the open; if not, it goes in the graveyard and we say so.

// tell us you want it

We build it for real if enough people raise a hand. No spam, no funnel — just a note when it's ready.

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