ATTACKING THE EXPERT'S OPINION
(presentations of 4.5 to 6.5 hours of teaching time)
8:30 - 10:00 a.m. (the 6.5-hour agenda)
- "Mt. Olympus" expert introduced
- Deposition cross-examination logic applied to experts
- When attacks vs. expert should be played at deposition
- The structure of every opinion: O = R + 2F
- End point opinions & subordinate opinions
- Bedrock finding & bedrock assumptions
- Seminar's case facts explained
- Cross-examiner's critical listening skills
10:00 - 10:10 a.m. Break
10:10 - 11:20 a.m.
- The schematic every-case-forever chart introduced
- Five categories of expert opinions
- Two must-be-asked questions
- Ten types of expert rules
- X and Y factors defined
11:20 - 11:30 a.m. Break
11:30 - 12:30 p.m.
- Scientific rules & Sir Francis Bacon
- Experiential rules (the "trust-me" expert)
- The scope of expert's expertise
- Non-expert rules
- Expert's weighing process
- Cross-examiner's critical listening skills (again)
12:30 - 1:30 p.m. Lunch
1:30 - 2:50 p.m.
- Two incredibly important - and easy to master - techniques
- Attacks vs. expert's claims re X factors
- The "certainty scale" and two archetypal arguments
- Six sources of assumptions
- Seven potential flaws re the expert's assumption
2:50 - 3:00 p.m. Break
3:00 - 4:30 p.m.
- Attacking expert's findings derived through expert means
- Attacking expert's findings derived through non-expert means
- Expert's three - and only three - attacks vs. Y factors:
- Relevance
- Not established
- Weight
- Attacking expert's double standard re case/career
- The perfection line of questioning
- Coda: Don't squander the expert's deposition