Sunday, July 06, 2003

Bernstein on SKAPP (part 3)

In our running discussion of SKAPP, Professor Bernstein has updated his post of 7/03/03. Of my challenge to Bernstein to offer his views on the actual substance of SKAPP's conclusions, Bernstein says he "could do that." But he doesn't. Instead he refers interested parties to the forthcoming New Wigmore: Expert and Scientific Evidence, of which he is co-author, and in which he promises to discuss (not SKAPP's findings, necessarily, but) "Daubert and other expert evidence-related issues" in great detail.

Professor Bernstein's work is sure to be illuminating. At the moment, of course, it remains to be published, but a promise is consideration for a promise, and so I shall keep my end of the bargain and survey the Atlantic Legal Foundation's site for propositions with which to concur.
Fed. R. Evid. 702: If scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise, if (1) the testimony is based upon sufficient facts or data, (2) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods, and (3) the witness has applied the principles and methods reliably to the facts of the case.