Law, Science and Experts

Additional Book Details

While science and technology have taken a major role in resolving legal disputes, experience has shown the difficulty of determining the reliability of this evidence. This book takes an in-depth look at the challenges of experts and forensic evidence, both civil and criminal, exploring the conflicts between law the science, the judicial gatekeeper function and the impact of the adversary system.

The main objectives of the book are to use evidence, procedure and doctrinal information in solving challenging real-life problems involving expert testimony. It requires the use of strategy and effective communication skills. The teachers manual has civil and criminal case material that will provide guided experiential learning opportunities for law students.

The book is equally useful to civil and criminal practitioners, drawing on the informed perspectives of judges, law professors, leading practitioners and forensic experts.

This book is the first of its kind in the legal field, a hybrid approach that analyzes cases and trends regulating the use of expert testimony. The use of science and mathematics is approached in a user-friendly way for non-scientists, effectively decoding what the Daubert decision actually means for actual practice. The authors cover the total range of both civil and criminal forensics, giving the reader a comprehensive foundation. Above all else, a book on forensics should be interesting and this one is all of that, drawing from multiple interviews of insiders who are well-familiar was the use and abuse of expert testimony. The multiple color illustrations are totally unique for a law book, reinforcing the text, making a vivid experience for both teacher and student. A DVD of a computer animation presenting expert testimony gives the book a distinct high tech slant.