Expert Witness Testimony is Topic at Symposium

Justice T. David Little of the Ontario Superior Court spoke at the Advocates’ Society 2007 Spring Symposium in Toronto regarding expert witnesses. Justice Little said that expert witnesses are there to assist the court with issues that it may not understand. “Tell the expert before they get on the stand, ‘Don’t be an advocate.” In Ontario counsel have to seek leave from the trial judge if they wish to call more than three expert witnesses.

Also speaking at the symposium was Joan Lukey, a partner with WilmerHale in Boston. Ms. Halle spoke on holographic evidence. The technology has been used in one trial so far in the United States in a case that questioned a surgeon’s actions during a medical procedure. A holographic model of the operating room was created as evidence, which resembled the actual scene from the day in question, complete with the appearance of virtual figures in the room, as reported in LawTimes.com.