Chair: Don Condie, M.D.

Tuesday, October 23 
8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (ticket) 
Each Clinical Practicum is limited to 30 AACAP members. (This Clinical Practicum will be held at the Sheraton Boston Hotel) 
Sponsored by the AACAP Local Arrangements Committee 

The objective of this Clinical Practicum is to acquaint child and adolescent psychiatrists who are acting as expert witnesses in the legal system with the standards of proof, methods, and possible legal complications (including later tort liability) when testimony is given regarding violence risk in children and adolescents. The practicum takes place at the Sheraton Boston Hotel and covers the standard methods of risk assessment, standards of proof and admissibility, techniques for effective testimony (and practices to avoid), as well as traditional concepts of expert witness immunity and how a variety of factors have led to the erosion of this immunity. These factors include the proliferation of experts, the inadequacy of traditional safeguards of potential prosecution for perjury and cross-examination, the growth of attorney malpractice, the lack of protection of the injured party from unscrupulous witnesses, and the evolving interpretation of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals.

Schedule

8:00 a.m. 
Introduction 
Don Condie, M.D. 

8:30 a.m. 
Violence Risk Assessment: The Practitioner’s View 
Diane Schetky, M.D. 

9:30 a.m. 
Standards of Proof and Rules of Evidence—the Legal View Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 509 U.S. 579 (1993) 
Robert Kinscherff, Ph.D., J.D. 
Deputy Commissioner for Forensic Mental Health, Massachusetts 
Hon. Jay Blitzman, J.D., Presiding Justice, Lowell Juvenile Court 

10:30 a.m. 
Audience Questions 

10:45 a.m. 
Mock Trial Part One: 
Direct and cross examination of prosecution experts attorneys from Harvard Law School Moot Court Program 
Steve Porter, M.D., Virginia Merritt, M.D. Hon. Jay Blitzman presiding 

11:30 a.m. 
Panel Discussion/Audience Questions Part 1 

12:00 p.m. 
Lunch 

1:00 p.m. 
Mock Trial Part Two: Direct and cross examination of defense experts attorneys from Harvard Law School Moot Court Program 
Nada Milosavljevic, M.D., J.D., Diane Schetky, M.D., Kamlyn Haynes, M.D. 

2:00 p.m. 
Panel Discussion/Audience Questions Part 2 

2:30 p.m. 
Judge’s Perspective on Testimony 
Hon. Jay Blitzman 

3:00 p.m. 
Expert Witness Perspective on Testimony

• Techniques for testimony
• Ethical issues
• Standards of clinical proof
• Liability for testimony 

4:00 p.m. 
Panel Discussion/Audience Questions 
Moderator: Don Condie, M.D. 
Drs. Schetky, Kinscherff, Porter, Merritt, Haynes, Milosavljevic Hon. Jay Blitzman 

5:00 p.m. 
Closing