At Trial, Try Asking Experts About Their Qualifications at the End of Your Examination

This tip comes from a presentation at the 2003 Missouri Bar's Annual Conference (unfortunately, my cryptic notes do not reveal the speaker's name): 

At trial, the "battle of the experts" often comes down to which expert seems the most believable, a conclusion that will depend, in part, on how you choose to present your expert's qualifications. 

To put special emphasis on the expert's qualifications, try switching the usual order of presentation by asking the expert about his experience and training at the end of the examination.  Begin the qualifications part of the examination by opening like this: "Now I'd like to ask you some questions about your right to give these opinions--who you are and what you've done." 

If the other side objects that you haven't qualified the expert before you get to this point, say, "Apparently Mr. Smith doesn't think you're smart enough to testify, so let's see about that" --then go right into the expert's qualifications.