LAW 7109 - Law,Science and Advocacy

Institution:

Villanova University

Subject:

Description:

Description: The course will focus on scientific expertise in litigation, and will include attention both to depositions and to examination/cross-examination in the courtroom. Some estimate that 75% of civil trials involve experts, and the average number of experts in such trials is four. The course will begin with consideration of the Daubert Trilogy and revised Federal Rule of Evidence 702, and will consider the analytical errors that followed as courts applied these precedents. It will emphasize forensic pathology and toxicology, as well as forensic psychiatry or psychology, as well as the history of fingerprint identification and DNA, and highlight the fact that while the hard sciences are often presumed to avoid the methodological and moral problems of the social sciences, they do not necessarily avoid these problems. The course will blend the theoretical and practical. Against a sophisticated theoretical background that will draw on interdisciplinary insights from the history, philosophy, and sociology of science, the course will also offer an intensely practical focus in terms of recent case law, class presentations by scientists and practicing attorneys, and exercises involving depositions and cross-examination. 3.00credit(s) Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Levels: Law School

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.villanova.edu

Phone Number:

(610) 519-4500

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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