Advanced Family Law Practice: Evidence and Forensic Experts

Advanced Family Law Practice: Evidence and Forensic Experts

Jointly Presented by The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers &

The Greater Newburyport Bar Association

Maine Board of Bar Overseers has approved this conference for 10 CLE Credits Total, 1 Credit Ethics & Professionalism

Why Attend?

The rules of civil procedure and evidence strictly apply to the designation and admissibility of expert and forensic evidence. Who is an “expert” and not a “lay” witness? When is an expert “forensic” with specialty codes of ethics which apply compared with “ordinary” expert opinion? Is expert opinion related to mental health or psychological and social science different than opinions in accounting, business valuations, or negligence? What are the timing and requirements for designation, form of reports, and pretrial “gatekeeping” motions? What are the standards under Daubert for admitting expert opinion on the ultimate issues in the case? Why does the test for reliability and relevance matter with experts? When is an expert inappropriately offered as a “truth detector”? When is the expert opinion ipse dixit (because I say it is so) and rather than based upon objective data and research? Many a trial lawyer has discovered, to some frustration and risk, responses like de bene, or “goes to weight not admissibility”, or “overruled, we will sort out later.” Unanticipated objections on what is admissible opinion can derail entire cases and clients. 

Attend and Learn

Current best practices, tips and traps in family law practice.

• How to work with the “consulting or testimonial expert”
• How to work with your expert to lay and require a proper foundation and authentication for evidence, including social media, texts, and other postings
• How to effectively manage direct and cross-examination of expert witnesses and reports, and the Daubert standard
• How to overcome key barriers to getting witness testimony or documents admitted or excluded.

Who Should Attend? This seminar is for the advanced practitioner.

AGENDA/SCHEDULE

Friday, October 14th, Day One 

8:00-9:00 Continental Breakfast and Registration

9:00-9:20 Welcome & Introductions

9:20-9:50 Part I: Pre-trial Considerations When Utilizing an Expert

• Use of the “Consultation/Testimonial Expert”
• Motions in Limine
• To Report or Not to Report?

Attorney Lisa J. Graff, Law Offices of Lisa J. Graff, Sudbury. MA & Attorney Wendy O. Hickey, Brick, Jones, McBrien & Hickey LLP, Newton, MA

9:50-11:00 Part II: Authentication and Foundation

• Rule 104. Preliminary Questions Do Matter.
• Rule 106: The “Rule of Completeness” in the Electronic Age
• Rules 401-03: Test for Relevant Evidence (think experts too)
• Preservation of Evidence Letters and Privilege/work Product
• Rules 901-03. Authenticating or Identifying Evidence
• Rules 1001-07. Writings, Pics, and Recordings

Attorney Jennifer C. Roman, Tracey, Roman & Ramos, P.C., Wellesley Hills, MA &         Attorney Viktor Thiess, Casner & Edwards, Boston, MA

11:00-11:15 Questions & Answers

11:15-11:35 Network Break

11:35-12:45 Part III: Expert Witnesses: From Reliability to Junk Science

• Rule 26(b)(4), Privilege, Work Product, and Disclosure—Ethical Considerations (.5 Ethics credit) 
• Rule 701. Opinion Testimony by Lay Witnesses
• Rule 702. Qualifications and Testimony by Expert Witnesses
• Rule 703. Bases of an Expert’s Opinion Testimony
• Rule 704. Opinion on an Ultimate Issue
• Rule 705. Disclosing the Facts or Data Underlying Opinion
• Rule 706. Court-Appointed Expert Witnesses

Attorney Norman Jacobs, Esdaile, Barrett, Jacobs & One, Boston, MA & Attorney Gary Todd, Todd & Weld, Boston, MA

12:45-1:00 Q & A

1:00-2:00 Lunch (Included)

2:00-4:30 Part IV: Use Of Specific Experts

• Daubert and the Trinity of U.S. Supreme Court cases
• Physical versus Social Sciences-Reliability and Relevance

 Attorney Robert Rivers, Lee & Rivers, Boston, MA

• Forensic Accounting

Laurie R. Tunick, C.P.A./A.B.V.C.F.F., Tunick Financial Services, Danvers, MA

• Business Valuations

  David E. Consigli, Jr., CPA, ABV, CDFA,FAZ CPA’s, Boston

• Child Custody Evaluations and the Best Interests Standards       

Attorney Alexander D. Jones, Brick, Jones, McBrien & Hickey LLP, Needham, MA

4:30-6:00 Cocktail Reception

Saturday, October 15th, Day Two 

8:00-9:00 Continental Breakfast

9:00-11:00 Part I: Trial Considerations and Strategies

• Preparations for final trial conferences
• Direct and Cross Examinations of Experts
• Preserving the Record
• Tactics of Voir Dire
• De Bene Evidence
• Rule 201. Judicial Notice

Attorney Donald L. Pitman, The Pitman Law Offices, Newburyport, MA & Attorney Christine G. DeBernardis, Law Office of Christine G. DeBernardis, MA & NH

• The Ethics of Candor to the Court (.5 ethics credit)

Hon. Dan Driscoll, and Hon. Susan Driscoll, ME

11:00-11:15 Q & A

11:15-11:35 Networking Break

11:35-1:00 Expert Vignettes

Psychologist/GAL—Dana Prescott, Prescott Jamieson Murphy Law Group, LLC, ME & Diane Tennies, Diane A. Tennies, PhD, LADC, Forensic Psychologist, ME

Executive Compensation—Donald L. Pitman, Pitman Law Offices, MA & Marc Bello, Edelstein & Co., Boston, MA

Forensic Accountant—Jennifer Roman, Tracey, Roman & Ramos, P.C., Wellesley Hills, MA & Laurie R. Tunick, C.P.A./A.B.V./C.F.F., Tunick Financial Services, Danvers, MA

1:00-2:00 Adjourn & Lunch

Conference Information

Conference fee includes Continental Breakfast on Friday & Saturday, Lunch on Friday & Saturday and Cocktail Reception on Friday. It also includes course materials

To Register: https://gnba.ticketbud.com/advanced-issues-in-evidence-experts-in-family-law

To Reserve Sleeping Rooms:  Book your group rate for Advanced Family Law

Thank you to our sponsors!! 

Exhibitors

LEAP is the #1 legal practice management software for New England law firms. Simplify  your IT infrastructure, reduce overhead costs, and enable your law firm to work from anywhere, at any time. Law firms earn 30% more profit within the first year of switching to LEAP by getting rid of servers, billing more hours with instant time-recording, and getting paid faster with secure, online billing and payments. Learn more at www.leap.us 

At Nifty we believe there is a right way to do marketing for law firms. We live and breathe legal marketing and travel the country talking about it. It is our goal to help lawyers get back in the “lawyer seat” and do what they are best at. To accomplish this we become a true partner and friend with the law firms that join the Nifty team. We become an integral member of the team and thrive on the success of the lawyers we work with. We take pride in being insanely transparent and honest in everything we do. We are a bunch of passionate marketers in a small farming community with good values and even better work ethics. https://niftymarketing.com/

Our Family Wizard. 20 years of helping families living separately thrive! With OurFamilyWizard, family law professionals and parents have access to a suite of tools designed to support effective co-parenting, help assure compliance, and deliver more optimal results for children. Learn more about our fee waiver program, free professional access, and updated model order language. Contact kevin@ourfamilywizard.com

Business Sponsors

We are Edelstein & Company LLP. A firm that values its people, its clients, and its community. As a CPA firm based in downtown Boston, MA, with a second office in Burlington, MA, we provide accounting, tax, business consulting, and financial planning services to individuals and businesses. From our founding in 1968, we have served clients in a wide variety of industries, including Professional Services, Healthcare, Not-for-Profit, Construction, Private Equity, Manufacturing, Real Estate and Retail/Wholesale. Edelstein & Company LLP was ranked as the 16th largest accounting firm in Massachusetts in the Boston Business Journal's 2022 Book of Lists. We were also recognized as a Top 200 Firm in America by Inside Public Accounting, Forbes’ Best Tax and Accounting Firms in America for 2022, Healthcare Tech Outlook’s Top 10 Medical Practice Management Consulting Services Company, and as a Top 5 Firm in the following categories by Massachusetts Lawyer’s Weekly: Accounting, Appraisal Service, E-Discovery, Experts, Forensic Accounting, Litigation Support, Risk Management, and Transaction Advisory. At Edelstein, we’re not all bar charts and balance sheets. We’re curious, involved, and engaged. We’re devoted to a client and employee experience that revolves around personal and business goals, not around formulas and ratios.

Soberlink With 55,000 custody cases each year that involve alcohol, parents, attorneys, and judges need a reasonable, trusted, and court-validated way to monitor alcohol consumption in real-time. In 2011, Soberlink revolutionized the way people can provide proof of sobriety without compromising child safety by creating the only system that combines: Court-admissibility in all 50 states; Facial recognition; Tamper detection; Easy-to-read Advanced Reporting™ Today, 10,000+ Family Law Professionals across all 50 states have adopted the system—learn how to implement Soberlink into your own practice.

The Pitman Law Offices, Newburyport, MA