And you'll note that I said the second scenario is awful!
But paying a consultant to consult for you doesn't become a bad thing to do, even if you are a bad person.
Like, consider the opposite question: Why should expert witnesses, people who have absolutely no connection to a case beyond a level of expertise in some component of it, _not_ be compensated for the time it takes them to prepare their testimony? This isn't an employee of the city; imagine you're a construction foreman and you're asked to appear as a witness to describe your experiences on a typical job site.
Why should you not get paid for preparing and giving your testimony?
