The best defense medical expert (for the plaintiff) is the worst most biased one

In the early 1990s, Tom Chambers sent me on a motion mission. Go to court. Argue that Dr. X was used so often by the insurance industry to testify against plaintiffs no matter what that they should be disqualified as an expert in our case. Went to court. Lost the motion.

Tom had me bring and lose that motion multiple times.

“It goes to weight,” declared the judges. “If they’re biased you can bring that out in cross.”

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Why leading questions are an obsolete persuasive technique

Isn’t it true that…

You previously testified to X - didn’t you…

She did XYZ - isn’t that right…

As a young lawyer, I felt the flush of success when cross examining a witness with leading questions. We were taught the technique in law school. Told it was the best and only way to cross examine a witness. You never wanted to ask an open ended question - oh no. Because terrible things could happen

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