Workshop: The Art and Science of Expert Witness Testimony
The live professional training program is presented by Karen Postal, PhD, ABPP in partnership with the American Academy of Forensic Psychology (AAFP).
This porgram shares the fruits of a multiyear research project with in-depth interviews of attorneys, judges, and seasoned forensic experts from multiple disciplines (including psychology, neuropsychology, medicine, and economics) highlighting and offering bridges for the areas where the needs and expectations of the courtroom collide with experts’ communication habits developed over years of academic and professional training. Rather than seeing testimony as a one-way download from expert to jurors, the workshop focuses on the direct, dynamic, unique communication relationship that develops as each juror’s lived experience interacts with the words experts speak.
The academic tradition of “methods-centered credibility” is expanded to also include “person-centered credibility,” where warmth, confidence, and relentless attention to detail build trust with jurors. Strategies and techniques are shared for disrupting traditional academic communication and creating access to expert opinions with vivid, clear language and strong visuals.
The difficult but necessary emotional work of the courtroom is addressed with specific techniques to regulate emotions in order to maintain person-centered credibility and keep the needs of jurors front and center through cross-examination. Rather than advice on testifying from a single expert, the research paradigm shared in the workshop offers a unique experience: like being personally mentored by over 85 attorneys, judges, and seasoned experts as they share their observations, insights, and strategies: not to “win” as a defense, prosecution, or plaintiff expert, but to be productive in helping jurors and other triers of fact do their difficult intellectual job in deciding a case.