Expert witness psychologist trial#

In her review Trinder (2015), citing reported cases, highlighted examples of highly vulnerable litigants including those who have not qualified under the current exceptional funding scheme, for example, one case where a litigant had hearing, speech and intellectual difficulties and was unable to read or write. In the year April 2013-March 2014, 821 applications for exceptional case funding were made in the area of family law, only nine of which were granted. They also noted other vulnerabilities in this sample including developmental disorders (ASD ADHD), poor emotional regulation, learning difficulties and extreme nerves/anxiety.Īlthough some safety net was envisaged in the form of the legal aid exceptional funding scheme, there have been criticisms of this scheme. (2014) found that around half of the LiPs in their observation sample of 151 cases in private family law proceedings suffered from one or more of these vulnerabilities.

Moorhead and Sefton (2005) list 11 indicators of vulnerabilities for LiPs (being a victim of violence, depression, alcoholism, being a young lone parent, drug use, history of imprisonment, mental illness, living in temporary accommodation with children, illiteracy, terminal illness, involvement with social services). Impact on the LiP and potential for harmPut plainly, in order to properly answer cross-examination the psychologist expert runs the risk of causing avoidable harm. This paper hopes to set out these issues and invites discussion as to potential guidance and remedy. The concerns fall into three main areas: the potential harm of conducting such a cross-examination to the litigants in person (LiPs) in question potential breaches of ethical conduct for the psychologist expert and the potential impact on the quality of the evidence. Many psychologist expert witnesses, from professional bodies (British Psychological Society) to more informal expert witness networks, have raised concerns about the impact of this practice.

Expert witness psychologist trial#

This article originally appeared in the January 2018 issue of Family Law.įind out more or request a free 1-week trial of Family Law journal.