20 Sep John Philipsborn Lectures on Preparing and Examining Mental Health Experts
Veteran criminal defense lawyer John Philipsborn presented a toolbox for presenting and cross- examining mental health experts. It is the common experience of criminal defense lawyers that government experts tend to state their conclusions in a way that don’t allow you to examine how they reached their conclusion. Mr. Philipsborn discussed the importance of being able to tether your cross-examination of these experts to the literature. In order to go after the underpinnings, the effective criminal defense attorney needs to be able to discuss the so-called “science” and tether questions to the fine print in the scientific literature. In addition to the science and literature, Mr. Philipsborn echoed the comments of Dr. Bursztajn about the importance of providing our forensic mental health experts the legal definitions, laws, and jury instructions prior to conducting the forensic examination. Thanks John for the great combination of knowledge and humor!
Iris Eytan is a Partner at Reilly Pozner LLP. She practices Criminal Defense with an emphasis in mental health defenses.