Insight for counsel · Expert selection
How to Select a Telecommunications Expert Witness
The right telecommunications expert must do more than recognize industry terminology. Counsel needs someone who can reconstruct what happened, distinguish technical possibility from commercial assertion, connect the evidence to the legal questions and explain the result without overstating it.
Written by Leonardus “Leo” Herps · Published 19 October 2026
What should counsel look for?
- Hands-on experience with the relevant networks, protocols and operational records
- Experience connecting regulatory duties and contracts to actual system behavior
- An ability to identify alternative explanations and limits in the evidence
- Clear writing and testimony suitable for courts, tribunals and arbitral panels
- Independence: a willingness to state both strengths and weaknesses in the client’s position
Why operator experience matters
A network dispute often turns on decisions made during provisioning, routing, interconnection, monitoring or incident response. Someone who has built and operated telecom systems can test whether a proposed explanation is operationally realistic, identify the records that should exist and recognize when a diagram or narrative omits a decisive handoff.
Leo’s legal-technical combination
Leo started writing code as a child and progressed through server software, hosting, cybersecurity and digital forensics before building telecommunications networks from scratch and leading licensed operators in Europe and the United States. His law degree helps him connect that technical record to contracts, regulation, causation, liability and evidentiary discipline.
How Leo can assist counsel
- Early case assessment and issue identification
- Focused discovery and evidence-preservation questions
- Independent expert and advisory reports
- Review and rebuttal of opposing expert opinions
- Deposition preparation, testimony and hearing support
- Coordination of additional specialists where a matter crosses disciplines
Public sources
Engagement-specific evidence is reviewed under appropriate confidentiality and scope controls.
For counsel
Discuss the technical record.
Engagements are subject to conflicts and scope review. Initial enquiries are treated as confidential.
Contact Leo Herps ↗