ABSTRACT
The Art and Science of Expert Witness Testimony shares the fruits of a multiyear research project with in-depth interviews of attorneys, judges, and seasoned forensic experts from multiple disciplines including neurology, psychiatry, orthopedics, neuropsychology, economics, history, and psychology. The book weaves together practical insights and advice from the multiple courtroom stakeholders with applied neuroscience, linguistics, and sociology literature, highlighting and offering bridges for the areas where the communication needs and expectations of the courtroom collide with expert witness’ communication habits developed over years of academic and professional training. In this chapter, the idea that trial testimony is a one-way download from an expert witness to a passive jury is challenged. Respect for the direct, unique, dynamic communication partnership that develops between expert witnesses and jurors is placed at the center of our goals as expert witnesses. The challenges of establishing respectful communication partnerships in our increasingly diverse society are highlighted as are the benefits: allowing experts to use language, metaphors, and analogies that are more likely to be relevant to jurors and therefore helpful in their difficult intellectual work deciding the case.
