What is Forensic Geotechnical Engineering?
​A new discipline known as forensic geotechnical engineering (FGE) has been created to deal with investigations of soil interaction related failures of engineered facilities or structures. Services of forensic geotechnical engineers are generally commissioned to investigate such failures.

FGE prepares civil engineers to read, think, speak, and analyze like a lawyer. In addition, it familiarizes engineers with the jurisprudence system so that they are able to understand and deal with legal issues in a knowledgeable fashion since they have to work closely with statutes and regulations, may become involved in litigation, or may serve as expert witnesses.

The legal considerations of these forensic geotechnical engineering services illustrate the reality that the engineering investigation of a failure incident is a fact-finding mission that results in uncovering the probable causes of that failure. It concentrates on the identification of hidden clues. The procedures adopted for the analysis, testing, opinions, and written reports should be able to satisfy even legal scrutiny of their validity.
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Well over 90% of civil cases settle prior to expert witnesses being called for a trial. As such, experts can expect that the majority of testimony that they give will be given at deposition. Accordingly, the experts need to excel during their depositions as they are a key element of the discovery process. If the expert witness is a litigation consultant he/she is not subject to discovery by the opposing counsel. If disclosed as an expert then he/she is subject to discovery by the opposing counsel.