MD109-OOO - How to Write a Bulletproof Expert Witness Report

Registration

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Course Description

Don't miss this chance to attend a full-day course on report writing from SEAK - the leaders in Expert Witness Training. This interactive workshop will teach you how to draft superior expert opinion reports and you will leave the class armed with an extensive, customized set of action steps to help you write more powerful, persuasive and defensible reports. Each attendee will be provided with a detailed course handbook containing practical and specific bullet-point advice along with numerous examples of both poor and effective report language.

Who should attend this course?

Any appraiser who is interested in becoming an expert witness and would like to learn from a former trial lawyer and expert in her field.

Any appraiser who would like to enhance their expert witness report writing skills.

How is this course for a multidiscipline audience?

Any appraiser, whether they are BV, GJ, MTS, PP, or RP, can use the skills taught in this course to become an expert witness in their appraisal field.

This course provides universal information about how to write an expert witness report and is not geared towards one particular type of appraisal.

Instructional Methods

The course is taught using six methodologies: lecture, questions and answers, well-written report excerpts, report writing exercises, report critique exercises, and mock cross examination exercises.

Instructor

Nadine Nasser Donovan, Esq., is a former trial lawyer with extensive litigation experience.  She is a senior SEAK trainer and consultant, and has been on the SEAK Faculty since 2002, having trained hundreds of experts via SEAK’s scheduled courses, customized on site expert witness training programs, and one-on-one consulting. Nadine is the coauthor of the SEAK texts, How to Be an Effective Expert Witness at Deposition and Trial: The SEAK Guide to Testifying as an Expert Witness; How to Write an Expert Witness Report and How to Be a Successful Expert Witness: SEAK’s A-Z Guide to Expert Witnessing. She is licensed to practice law in New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. In addition, Nadine is a Legal Writing Instructor at Boston University School of Law. Nadine also serves as a Dispute Resolution Arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Nadine previously practiced litigation for 21 years. She spent 18 years in the defense of medical professionals in medical malpractice actions and before medical licensing boards. Nadine started off her legal career in New York City, first as a prosecutor in Queens, and then as counsel for the City of New York. Nadine received her J.D. cum laude from Boston College Law School. She graduated from Fordham University summa cum laude with a B.A. in French Literature. She can be contacted at 617-791-4282 or nadine@seak.com .

Agenda

1. Introduction
2. How To Protect Your Report, Yourself, and Your Opinions from Daubert and Other Admissibility Challenges
3. Break
4. How To Draft a Powerful, Persuasive, and Understandable Report
5. How to Excel When Drafting Rule 26 Reports for Federal Court
6. Lunch on Own
7. How to Best Describe Your Document Review, Research, and Investigation
8. How to Make Optimum Use of Charts, Graphs, Timelines and Photographs
9. How to Best Deal with Confounding Data and Studies and Alternative Explanations
10. How to Best Rebut Opposing Experts’ Opinions
11. Break
12. Discovery, Ethics and the Influence of Retaining Counsel
13. Quality Control and Editing Techniques for Expert Witness Reports
14. Questions and Takeaways

Learning Outcomes

After this class, students will be able to:

• Describe techniques to protect yourself from having your testimony limited or excluded;
• List action steps to draft more powerful, persuasive and understandable expert reports;
• List the legal requirements for Rule 26 reports and describe techniques for complying with these requirements; 
• List techniques to better document your document review, research and opinions;
• Describe when and how charts, graphs, timelines and photographs should be used to improve an expert report;
• List action steps to best document confounding data;
• List techniques for effectively rebutting the opposing expert’s report; 
• Describe best practices for communicating with and working with retaining counsel; and
• Identify protocols for editing and reviewing expert witness reports.