| Insights into Experience-Based Expert Testimony
Cosponsored with the Macaronis Institute for Trial and Appellate Advocacy
Please Note: This course has already
been held.
Date: Friday, April 06, 2001
Location: Suffolk University Law School, 120 Tremont St., Boston, MA
Time: 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Faculty
Schedule/Agenda
Registration Information
Unable to attend but are interested in the course materials?
Purchase Here! |
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Since 1993 the United States Supreme Court and the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court have been developing and refining rules with respect to the admissibility of expert testimony. The Federal Rules of Evidence which pertain to expert testimony have recently been amended. Decisions which initially created a "gatekeeper" role for trial judges in admitting scientific testimony have now been expanded to include expert opinion based on experience or technical expertise. In its decision in Canavan's Case in the summer of 2000, the Supreme Judicial Court held that expert testimony based on personal observations or clinical experience is subject to a reliability analysis as a condition of admissibility.
Insights into Experience-Based Expert Testimony gives you experienced trial lawyers, academics and judges reviewing the current state of the law and addressing questions which remain unanswered and issues which are particularly problematic. How will the reliability rules affect expert testimony with respect to significant recurring questions, such as medical causation and liability issues in products liability actions? What are the implications of the recent decisions for forensic science testimony? How have the new rules affected the roles of the judge and the jury, and how will they impact differently on plaintiffs and defendants in civil matters?
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Michael B. Bogdanow
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Meehan, Boyle & Cohen, PC, Boston |
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Professor Timothy Wilton
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Suffolk University Law School, Boston |
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Carol S. Ball
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Associate Justice, Superior Court |
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Robert W. Casby, Esq.
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Sugarman & Sugarman, PC, Boston |
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Honorable Nancy Gertner
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U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts (Invited) |
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Eileen P. Kavanagh
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Governo & Kavanagh, LLP, Boston |
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Laird C. Kirkpatrick
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University of Oregon Law School, Eugene, OR |
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Charles P. Reidy
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Martin, Magnuson, McCarthy & Kenney, Boston |
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Douglas K. Sheff
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Boston |
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Honorable John J. Irwin, Jr., Director
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Macaronis Institute for Trial and Appellate Advocacy
Suffolk University Law School, Boston, MA |
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Daniel F. Toomey
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Associate Justice, Superior Court |
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Professor Michael Avery
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Suffolk University Law School, Boston, MA |
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Honorable Margot Botsford
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Supreme Judicial Court |
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| S C H E D U L E / A G E N D A |
| 9:00 |
Introduction |
Honorable John J. Irwin, Jr.
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| 9:10 |
Current State of Daubert/Lanigan/ Canavan's Case Jurisprudence in Federal and Massachusetts Courts. |
| What are the implications of the amendments to Federal Rules of Evidence 701 - 703 that became effective December 1, 2000? What issues of state law remain to be decided and what areas of uncertainty are problematic? What are the “red flags” which indicate potential problems for the admissibility of expert testimony?
Professor Michael Avery
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| 10:10 |
Application of the Law in Specific Types of Cases |
Medical Causation - Charles P. Reidy, Esq.
Products Liability - Michael B. Bogdanow, Esq.
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| 11:45 |
Is Forensic Science Testimony Still Reliable? |
| Should testimony which has long been accepted in Massachusetts and elsewhere now be subjected to new scrutiny to determine its reliability? What are the rules that should govern testimony concerning handwriting comparison, hair comparison, other trace evidence and forensic odontology?
Professor Laird C. Kirkpatrick
Honorable Nancy Gertner
Honorable Carol S. Ball
Honorable Margot Botsford
Honorable Daniel F. Toomey
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| 2:00 |
Direct & Cross Examination |
| Demonstration of direct and cross examination in a Lanigan hearing with respect to medical causation evidence
Honorable Margot Botsford
Robert W. Casby, Esq.
Charles P. Reidy, Esq.
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| 3:45 |
Judicial Gatekeeping - Is Our System of Justice Now Better or Worse? |
| In the real world of practice, have the new Daubert/Kumho/Lanigan/Canavan rules tilted the playing field for plaintiffs and defendants or just leveled it? Have they improperly undermined the jury’s function of evaluating expert evidence or properly protected the jury from “junk science?” As applied, have they “relax[ed] the traditional barriers to ‘opinion’ testimony,” as the Daubert Court claimed, or created a new barrier? What has been their effect on the cost of litigation for plaintiffs and defendants, and the decision of a lawyer to take a case? Are there solutions to these problems, or are there really any problems at all?
Professor Timothy Wilton
Eileen P. Kavanagh, Esq.
Douglas K. Sheff, Esq.
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| Date: |
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Friday, April 06, 2001 |
| Tuition: |
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$199; $149 for attorneys admitted since 1998. Tuition includes course book, and refreshments.
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| Walk-Ins: |
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Space is limited. Registrations at the door are welcome, but please register in advance to reserve a seat and your course materials or call to confirm availability.
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| Refunds: |
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Any cancellations received 24 hours prior to the program will be granted a refund, minus a $15.00 charge. If you cannot attend, you can send a substitute, otherwise you will receive the written course materials.
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| Location: |
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Suffolk University Law School, 120 Tremont St., Boston, MA
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| Credit: |
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Approved for CLE Credit in RI, NH, VT & NY.
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Special
Needs: |
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If you have special needs addressed by the Americans with Disabilities Act, please notify us as soon as possible.
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Directions to the Law School.
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Unable to attend but are interested in the course materials?
Purchase Here! |
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