The Expert Expert Witness More Maxims and Guidelines for Testifying in Court

by Brodsky, Stanley L.; Gutheil, Thomas G.

• ISBN13: 9781433820557
• ISBN10: 1433820552
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2015-09-14
• Publisher: American Psychological Association

Summary

Psychologists, psychiatrists, and other mental health professionals may be experts in their respective fields, but this expertise does not easily translate to effective courtroom testimony. Even veteran expert witnesses can encounter new challenges in these high-pressure situations, especially during a cross-examination where every statement and gesture can be scrutinized by an attorney searching for ways to dispute the expert’s credibility and opinions.

For more than two decades, Stanley L. Brodsky has taught expert witnesses simple and practical strategies they can use to negotiate challenges in the courtroom and give strong, effective testimony. In this thorough update to his classic guide, Brodsky and his equally prolific coauthor, Thomas G. Gutheil, continue to provide sage, humorous advice that will put expert witnesses at ease and allow them to comport themselves with poise and confidence throughout direct and cross-examination. Short chapters punctuated by memorable maxims draw from the authors’ expansive personal experiences, as well as research and stories from other expert expert witnesses, to create this must-have resource that will inform and entertain expert witnesses for many years.

Author Biography

Stanley L. Brodsky, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Psychology at The University of Alabama. He has written 14 books and about 250 articles, mostly in psychology applied to the law. He has received distinguished achievement awards from the American Psychology-Law Society, The International Association of Forensic and Correctional Psychology, and other scholarly and professional societies. He is a frequent leader of workshops based on his book Testifying in Court. In 2013 he was a Visiting Fellow in the Program in Psychiatry and the Law of Harvard Medical School.  Dr. Brodsky has been a visiting fellow at universities in New Zealand, India, Israel, and England.

Thomas G. Gutheil, MD, is a professor of psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at Beth Israel-Deaconess Medical Center and cofounder of the Program in Psychiatry and the Law at Harvard Medical School; he is the first professor of psychiatry in the history of Harvard Medical School to be certified in both general and forensic psychiatry. A recipient of every major award in the forensic field and multiple teaching and writing awards, Dr. Gutheil has authored or coauthored more than 300 publications in the national and international forensic literature. He is past president of the American Academy of Psychiatry and Law and the International Academy of Law and Mental Health. Associated with the Massachusetts Mental Health Center for a half-century. Dr. Gutheil lives and works in the Boston area.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

1. Apologies
2. Arbitrary Pigeonholes
3. Asked and Answered
4. Boundaries Between Expert Witness Roles and Trial Consultation
5. Confabulations
6. Consistent Experts
7. Context
8. Directed Feedback
9. Discovery and Discoveries
10. Ethics in Expert Testimony
11. Evasive Responses: Hopeless But Not Serious
12. Experience Does Not Count
13. Expert Witness as Master Teacher
14. Fact Witnesses
15. Frames of Reference
16. Gender-Intrusive Questions
17. Gotcha and Goodbye
18. Holy Mackerel, Man!
19. Illusory Documentation
20. Integrity Checks
21. Language: It's a Virus
22. Lawyer Bashing and Lawyer Jokes
23. Le Mot Juste
24. Lost and Befuddled
25. Low Pitches
26. Metatestimony
27. Offensive Language
28. Offensive Questions
29. Personal Attacks: Overview
30. Personal Attacks: Demeaning Attorneys
31. Personal Attacks: Internet Vulnerabilities
32. Personal Attacks: Taints
33. Pulling and the Push–Pull
34. Real and Apparent Ambiguities
35. Recording of Assessments
36. Sayonara Solutions
37. Silent Treatments
38. Sleight of Hand
39. Social Construction of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Dangerousness
40. Spontaneity and Alertness on the Stand
41. Swoop and Perch
42. Telephoned and Videorecorded Testimony
43. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You
44. Their Words in Our Mouths
45. Tightrope Walking
46. To Faint, To Weep, To Blank Out
47. Traps of Common Sense
48. True Grit and False
49. Ultimate Opinion Testimony
50. Well Beyond Testimony
51. What We Like to See in an Expert Witness — And What We Don't

Suggested Readings: More of This

References

Index

About the Authors