Deposition and Cross-Examination of the Expert Witness: Basic Questions, With Commentaries, in 14 Areas (from the chapter) Few aspects of legal proceedings require more extensive, detailed preparation for both attorney and expert witness than discovery through deposition and subsequent cross-examination. Louis Nizer (1961) compared the task of the attorney to the painstaking work of the archaeologist, searching for, exhuming, and sifting through records of the past as they emerge in expert testimony and other evidence. This chapter serves as a guide for the attorney who is conducting that search. It can also help expert witnesses prepare for depositions and cross-examination. We present basic questions (plus a few followup questions) created to help the attorney obtain information that is crucial to understanding assessment testimony. Although attorneys conducting depositions or cross-examination may find it a useful strategy to jump occasionally from one topic to another (to determine how different aspects of the testimony fit together) and to return to a topic repeatedly (to assess the degree to which an expert's testimony is consistent during the long course of deposition and cross-examination), it is crucial that the attorney use a well-organized outline to ensure that all relevant questions are asked. The outline that follows organizes the questions into 14 basic categories: initial contacts, relevant relationships, and subsequent meetings; 2. financial factors; 3. compliance with the subpoena; 4. education and training; 5. illegal, unethical, or unprofessional behavior; 6. occupational history; 7. research and publication history; 8. forensic history; 9. knowledge of general issues of tests and psychometrics; 10. method selection, validation, and research; 11. knowledge of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI); 12. administration and scoring; 13. interpretation; and 14. options and alternatives. Commentary on the content or implications follows most of the questions we present. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved) https://www.upress.umn.edu/test-division/bibliography/2000-2009/2006/pope_deposition_2006 https://www.upress.umn.edu/logo.png

Kenneth S Pope, James N Butcher, and Joyce Seelen (2006)

Deposition and Cross-Examination of the Expert Witness: Basic Questions, With Commentaries, in 14 Areas

Miscellaneous publication.

Keywords

American Psychological Association
APA
assessment testimony
Attorney
Behavior
Compliance
Court
Cross-examination
Deposition
Education
Expert Testimony
Expert witnesses
interpretation
Legal proceedings
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
MMPI
MMPI 2
MMPI-2
MMPI-A
Personality
Psychometric
Relationships
Research
Scoring
Selection
Task
Test
University
Validation
Witnesses
Work

Document Actions

Export Bibliography

University of Minnesota Press

Share

Deposition and Cross-Examination of the Expert Witness: Basic Questions, With Commentaries, in 14 Areas