IAFR Webinar #21 – The Expert Witness in Court

Steve Naidoo is a specialist forensic pathologist, with over 30 years’ experience.  Special interests include applied forensic anatomy, the pathology of trauma, and sexual offences.  He worked with the Truth Commission in South Africa, death investigations in Mozambique, in the Former Yugoslavia (Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo), the 2012 Marikana Massacre, East Africa, and in The Gambia.  As Associate Professor in Forensic Medicine, he was the first Chairman of the African Society of Forensic Medicine.  He has had much experience in giving testimony in court.  Steve does independent consulting and is currently involved in training in sexual abuse medicine.

Abstract

Health professionals are frequently called upon to testify in a court.  We generally are, however, inexpert at what we should be expert upon, and fare badly, with dissatisfying experiences leading to the tendency to avoid the unpleasantness of court.  The talk will cover the anatomy and procedure of the courtroom and how the legal system operates, the difference between a lay, professional and expert witness, the value of expert opinion, how to give testimony in general and make complex scientific knowledge appreciated by the court and layman, dos and the don’ts of testimony, nature of cross-examination, how to avoid the snares and the “scares”, challenges to professional credibility, how an expert is “qualified”, and the differences between fact and opinion and between possibility and probability.  The speaker will use case examples from his wide experience as a previous state pathologist and professor of Forensic Medicine and later independent expert.

Registration for is free for IAFR members and £5 for non-members.  Please use the links below to register:

Member Registration

Non-member Registration