I'm surprised to see it suggested that being unable to immediately recall arcane trivia in a high pressure situation would be a disqualifying feature, but then... gestures broadly at every technical interview.
Witnesses are already paid. You can be subpoenaed to present fact or character testimony, and you're required by law to show up (but you're still paid).
I'm pretty sure subpoenaing random experts isn't the solution, but $1,500/hr is pretty crazy regardless of your field. Perhaps there should be a system based around licensure where you get paid a market rate rather than 10x, and doing a certain number of hours every year is considered a public service and a requirement for your license, similar to how many attorneys do pro bono work?
>$1,500/hr is pretty crazy regardless of your field.
So that's $3 million/year assuming someone takes pretty much normal US vacations and holidays. And bills 8 hours/day which certainly no lawyer does unless they're working insane hours. So maybe cut that in half. (And leaving aside that you almost certainly can't book a full schedule.)
Is $1.5 million/year still a lot of money? Sure. It's also not out of the realm of even non-executive compensation in places like Silicon Valley or even the medical field. And, in practice, most people doing this even those who command the highest sums, are probably doing this much less than 1,000 hours/year. Those who do earn the highest amounts are doing it, like lawyers and consultancies, by billing out associates who earn a lot less than their billable rate.
My hourly is a lot less than $1,500, but I don’t think I’d take $1,500 to testify for an hour. First, I’d probably need to take off work for the whole day. I’d need to familiarize myself with the case, psych myself up for this crazy high-pressure situation, do the thing, then possibly be subject to public criticism for my role in it afterwards. It doesn’t sound worth it to me. I’m not sure what my price is, maybe $5k?
This is assuming my role is to defend some patent troll or something. If I really believed in the cause, I might do it for free.
Actually the technical interview is an interesting comparison. They’re also stressful and require preparation. But the monetary reward is orders of magnitude greater!
Witnesses are already paid. You can be subpoenaed to present fact or character testimony, and you're required by law to show up (but you're still paid).
I'm pretty sure subpoenaing random experts isn't the solution, but $1,500/hr is pretty crazy regardless of your field. Perhaps there should be a system based around licensure where you get paid a market rate rather than 10x, and doing a certain number of hours every year is considered a public service and a requirement for your license, similar to how many attorneys do pro bono work?