Defending Your Degree and Credentials
It’s necessary to inform the attorneys–and the public–where you got that coveted forensic training and degree, even if one step along the way is less than stellar–or simply unfamiliar.
Such info is commonly on your CV and bios online. That’s ok.
Solution
Emphasize your highest and best training and credentials.
Let the rest speak for itself.
Transparency
Attorneys will check you out. They must to perform due diligence.
Never hide anything!
Don’t get defensive if you don’t think your credentials are “good enough.”
Board-Certifications, licensing, schools you attended, work history, must be verifiable by the attorneys. You can describe, explain, inform, but don’t hide.
You might not be the right fit to testify about a topic.
Ultimately, you, not the attorney, will have a mark on your record if you are disqualified.
Be prepared to walk away from cases.
Stay in your lane.
Help Attorneys with Verification Tools
Attorneys have to do their due diligence and confirm your claims.
I recommend providing links on your CV and website to the official Boards and Licensing Agencies that will verify your credentials.
E.g. American Board of Medical Specialties Verification Tool or ABPN VerifyCert or California Medical Board Licensing Verification (other States have a similar site.)
You are, essentially saying “don’t take my word for it.”
You underscore your integrity by doing so.
It also helps attorneys do their research.
In Expert Witness work you will be under a microscope. Prove, don’t nervously defend.
Explain about your training and degrees if it’s relevant. You might have to educate the attorney–which is usually part of an expert witness’ job.
Case Study: Defending Against Specialization Credentials That Don’t Exist
A challenge was made to the Court that the doctor (a psychiatrist) was not qualified to address PTSD as s/he was not a credentialed “PTSD Expert.”
There is no “PTSD” Board-Certification for psychiatrists or psychologists. Diagnosis and treatment of PTSD is part of the doctor’s training and, in the case of physicians: residency, and perhaps Fellowship.
The doctor could have explained that to the attorney, to help them respond to the challenge. Instead, the doctor was officially Disqualified by the Court as not being a PTSD Expert. In fact, s/he was never even told of the Disqualification.
This became a problem when, in future cases, the attorney’s research revealed the Disqualification and that was a negative, even though it was inaccurate.
Handling Uncomfortable Credentials
Prepare Answers in Advance
If you feel defensive or fear an attorney’s closer investigation, a proactive strategy is best.
- Prepare answers to likely questions ahead of time.
- Don’t answer on the fly–it is too easy to reveal those fears in your tone of voice or choice of words.
For example, these forensic fellowships are accredited by the ABPN and ACGME, and underappreciated by attorneys because of geography, name and jury recognition.
- Case Western Reserve’s Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship is one of the first (1979) and most competitive. An attorney might assume Stanford is the more-established program. That would not be accurate. (Stanford’s Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship was established in 1997 and then, after starts and stops, re-established in 2022.
- Oregon Health and Science University (doesn’t sound like a medical school; yet ranked 4th best medical school for primary care medicine in the country by U.S. News and World Report.)
- University of Arkansas (small state, unaffiliated with a big name medical school
- Medical College of Wisconsin (ditto.)
Solutions
Exemplar: Forensic Psychologists
There aren’t many forensic psychology programs and some are at schools that are well-regarded among psychologists and unfamiliar to attorneys. Several are only available online. They are still excellent.
For example,
- “John Jay.” The John Jay College of Criminal Justice is ranked in the top 10 for its forensic programs. Faculty include pioneer of the study of false confessions, Saul Kassin, Ph.D., and expert on Eye Witness Memory and Jury Selection, Dr. Steven Penrod.
- Missouri State. Forensic Child Psychology program is one of the only in the country. U.S. News and World Report ranks it 45th out of 217, almost 10 positions higher than Georgetown, Rutgers and Rice.
- Alliant International University, is home of the California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP.) It offers Psy.D. and Ph.D. programs in Clinical Psychology: Forensic Emphasis are individually accredited by the American Psychological Association. The school has trained approximately half of the licensed psychologists in California.
Medical School Abroad
There are medical schools all over the world. Some are excellent, and some are not.
Tackle the attorney’s assumption: You weren’t smart enough to get into a U.S. School.
Nevertheless, you would not be practicing if you weren’t licensed in the U.S. and completed the requisite U.S. residency and, perhaps, attended an excellent and competitive U.S. Fellowship. Further you passed rigorous Board exams. That information is what counts most.
If your medical school education was terrible, you wouldn’t be able to achieve the subsequent accomplishments. You might have to explain that to an attorney. Do so.
A case study: St. George’s in Grenada
A client attended St. George’s University School of Medicine, Grenada, West Indies.
I did some careful research and found that
- St. George’s placed more doctors into first-year U.S. residency positions than any other medical school in the world between 2011 and 2012.
- In 2016 The Princeton Review ranked it one of the “Best 168 Medical Schools.”
- St. George’s medical students achieved a 97% first-time-taker pass rate on the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination I in 2012.
- First-time takers at U.S. and Canadian schools, however, in the same year achieved a 96% pass rate.
On her/his CV, St. George’s University School of Medicine is appropriately placed after Licensing, Board-Certifications, Fellowships and Residencies. On the CV I first reviewed, Medical School was presented chronoligically, oldest to newest, thus the second line at the top of the CV.
There’s nothing wrong with a CV for expert witness practice that begins with what’s most relevant to your practice and to the judge or jury.
Summary
You are the most knowledgeable about the strengths of your education.
Write about it, and bear in mind an attorney’s presumptions that might not be accurate.
