Articles Posted in Researching Experts

In Help! My New House Is Falling Down, architect Peter Lattey writes that uncovering construction defects requires an expert to discover the cause of damage.

A homeowner walks into your office and says “My new house is falling apart and I want to sue the bum that built it.”

As a smart lawyer, you quickly decide that this may be your next money making case and you decide to find out what the case is all about. Being a prudent person, you do a bit of research before you take on the case. Just as an emergency room doctor does a triage on new cases to decide how each new patient is to be treated, a smart lawyer needs to do the same on new construction defect cases.

In Litigating Competence-Five Central Questions, psychology expert witness Philip J. Kinsler, Ph.D., writes:

2. What specific psycho-legal skills should be addressed in a competency evaluation?

2.1. An examination of competence often makes an assessment of the following psycho-legal skills:

In The forensic expert witness-An issue of competency, Forensic Science International writes:

Scientists submitting expert opinions within the legal system are expected to be knowledgeable in the forensic aspects of their particular science, as well as to be ethical and unbiased.

Scientists are seldom able to decline a request to provide an expert opinion in their field, even when their forensic expertise is minimal. The competence of scientists providing expert opinions in forensic cases is reviewed here. Three examples of the perils of uninformed “expertise” in forensic biology, medicine and anthropology are presented.

In Witness Competency, Bonnie Sudderth, Judge of the 352nd District Court of Tarrant County, TX, writes:

Long before Robinson and Daubert subjected expert witnesses to a judicial pre-screening process, Texas judges were acting as gate-keepers as to fact witnesses on the basis of competency. In fact, legal history in Texas is replete with many grounds to exclude witnesses due to incompetency, most of which have long-since been abandoned or repealed, such as religion, race and criminal convictions. Two exclusionary grounds remain, however, in the current rules of evidence – witnesses who are mentally incompetent and children.

Read more: http://judgebonniesudderth.wordpress.com

In EVALUATING AN EXPERT WITNESS FOR SCHOOL SAFETY CASES, school safety expert witness Michael Dorn writes:

The Need to Evaluate an Expert Witness before Hiring

Whether an attorney advocates for the defense or the plaintiff, few things can be as damaging to a civil or criminal case as finding out during a deposition or trial that an expert witness has serious skeletons in their closet, such as:

Thoracic surgery expert witnesses may opine on pulmonology, chest medicine, respiratory medicine, and more. The American Association for Thoracic Surgery writes:

One of the most important and controversial figures in malpractice litigation is the physician expert witness. The number of malpractice suits and the size of awards for damages have grown substantially in recent years, greatly increasing demand for “expert witnesses.” The increasing number of expert witnesses has engendered the need for clear definition of their qualifications and guidelines for their behavior.

The American Association for Thoracic Surgery has adopted the following statement of qualifications for expert witnesses and guidelines for behavior of AATS members when acting as experts in the legal system. These qualifications and guidelines apply equally to AATS members rendering expert opinions prior to the initiation of litigation.

In Top 5 Specialties of an Orthopedic Surgery Expert Witness, Mednick Associates writes:

Searching for an orthopedic surgery expert witness can be challenging given the various specialties available. As a rule of thumb, orthopedic surgeons come in all shapes and sizes…. When reviewing a CV for a potential expert witness assignment, it is always helpful to discuss the particulars of the experts’ surgical history and how many surgeries and types they have performed.

Read more: http://www.mednickassociates.com/

In THE LAYMAN’S GLOSSARY: Terms Relating to the Forensic Examination of Handwriting, Signatures and Documents , handwriting expert witness Jacqueline A. Joseph, CDE, Board Certified Examiner of Handwriting & Documents, writes:

This glossary has been designed to meet the needs of those seeking to gain the meaning of common forensic terms and to understand the jargon used during the examination of questioned handwriting and signatures…

Because it would be impracticable to include all forensic terms in a work of this size and scope, this work includes many of the common terms relating to the examination of questioned handwriting and signature examination. It does not include terms relating to laboratory equipment, ink differentiation or other methods involving aspects beyond the examination of handwriting and signatures. However, it is my intention to publish expanded editions in the future….

In Why Neurology Expert Witnesses are Uniquely Beneficial to Litigators with Medical Cases, Mednick Associates writes:

While most physicians tend to focus on a specific area of medicine, there are some specialties, like neurology, where the specific meets the general. Mednick Associates highlights the top 5 areas where neurology expert witnesses can help litigators.

Read more: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2012/10/prweb10076590.htm

Patents expert witnesses may opine on patent infringement, software patents, invention patents, and more. In A Guide to the Legislative History of the America Invents Act: Part I of II, Joe Matal, Judiciary Committee Counsel to Senator Jon Kyl, describes the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act and provides a guide to legislative materials.

Read more: http://www.uspto.gov/aia_implementation/guide-to-aia-p1.pdf