Advocacy and the Expert Witness

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=160 BGCOLOR="#333333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="03cdedc2ddualp.png"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dr. Wade Silverman, Ph.D"><U><B>Dr. Wade Silverman, Ph.D</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id8.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U><B>Contact Us</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id147.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FAQs"><U><B>FAQs</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id16.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Dr. Silverman"><U><B>About Dr. Silverman</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id146.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Great links"><U><B>Great links</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Mind Reader© archive"><U><B>The Mind Reader© archive</B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="03d64643.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#666633" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>Dr. Wade Silverman, Ph.D</B></FONT>    |     <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000BF" FACE="Times New Roman" ><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dr. Wade Silverman, Ph.D"><U>home</U></A></FONT></div> <div>                                                   </div> <div> Advocacy and the Expert Witness </div> <bR> <div> The proper role for an attorney is to serve as advocate for his/her client. This position is understood and respected by both plaintiff and the defendant representation. However, this concept conflicts with the professional role of a mental health expert witness. His/her responsibility is to investigate and report his/her findings in an objective manner. If the opinions obtained from a scientific and scholarly  investigation are at odds with the theory of the case as presented by the lawyer who requested the expert advice, the expert must either withdraw or report those conflicts if so asked in deposition or trial. </div> <bR> <div> To avoid potentially harming his/her case, the attorney must sit down with the expert witness and have a detailed conversation concerning the theory of the case. The expert must be educated as to the law as applied to the particular case. It is not at all unusual that the expert's findings may be logical, but not legally in conflict with the client's best interest. As an example, a client can be mentally disabled, even schizophrenic, but not legally insane. Or a client may be legally competent to stand trial, but was incompetent during the commission of a crime. Lawyers may find expert opinion hopelessly equivocal or tentative. Remember, that scientists are philosophically skeptical in their observation of fact and conservative in their expression of conclusions. You must make them feel comfortable with their views so that they mat be more emphatic and believable to the listener. This requires you to argue your case to them as clearly and logically as you do to a judge or jury. </div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>