{"id":3129,"date":"2015-01-23T21:09:29","date_gmt":"2015-01-23T21:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/?p=3129"},"modified":"2015-01-23T21:09:29","modified_gmt":"2015-01-23T21:09:29","slug":"experts-benefit-from-reading-legal-practice-handbooks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/2015\/01\/23\/experts-benefit-from-reading-legal-practice-handbooks\/","title":{"rendered":"Experts benefit from reading legal practice handbooks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Headaches caused by obscure, poorly defined fields of practice<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Recently, I was researching practice for the forensic investigation of a personal injury accident, and standards for evaluation of the results. The practice and standards were not so well defined and somewhat silent, respectively, – obscure investigative practice and not well established standards in eastern Canada, better\u00a0in the U.S., in both respects, and\u00a0better still\u00a0in Europe.<\/p>\n

Research\u00a0a year and\u00a0a half ago of industrial practices, as distinct from investigative practices,\u00a0of a similar accident identified 11 different potential parties involved in design and construction of the component of the\u00a0structure\u00a0responsible for\u00a0the accident.<\/p>\n

These kinds of situations cause forensic engineers and experts – and counsel by extension, lots of\u00a0headaches.<\/p>\n

My recent research was identifying engineering literature and bringing it in by inter-library loan for review.\u00a0 Engineers know a lot but we must sometimes research a lot –\u00a0poorly defined\u00a0fields of practice for sure.<\/p>\n

Striking gold <\/span>in an “engineering” handbook<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

One “engineering” handbook – the title wasn’t clear – turned out to be a legal practice handbook on this particular type of accident. \u00a0What the heck, I thought, I’ll look through it. Imagine my surprise when I saw the handbook identifying and discussing the technical issues in these types of accidents.\u00a0 The discussion was from a legal point of view but the perspective was very informative to an engineer.<\/p>\n

The legal handbook was dated – 1983 to be exact, but at least I had a heads-up on a different way to view these technical issues.\u00a0\u00a0And a better feel on how to explain the investigative findings on these issues to the judicial system and counsel.<\/p>\n

More gold<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I checked a quite extensive bibliography in a\u00a0very comprehensive, 2nd edition, 2010 engineering handbook that I’m reviewing on\u00a0this type of accident.\u00a0 I was delighted to see a well recommended reference – by an engineer, to a more recent legal handbook on the subject – by an author qualified as both a lawyer and an engineer.\u00a0 I checked and\u00a0the handbook\u00a0was available,\u00a0and better still, in a revised and updated\u00a08.5 by\u00a011 inch, 613 page edition, to July, 2012 – quite an up-to-date\u00a0tome.<\/p>\n

I’m now reviewing this legal material in connection with my cases.\u00a0 Even the 1983 handbook because the engineer in me saw not so much change in the basic relevant technical issues. This type of accident is still a\u00a0somewhat obscure field of study and, as a result, a difficult accident to investigate, but at least I’ve got comprehensive and up-to-date literature on another way of looking at the problem.<\/p>\n

What’s the take-away?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

So, what’s the take-away?\u00a0 For forensic experts, and counsel too, check out the legal practice handbooks on the engineering failure or personal injury accident you’re investigating, particularly handbooks on poorly defined\u00a0fields. \u00a0Look at the perspective the legal profession has on the technical issues.\u00a0 To some extent, you’ll know the obscure fields by the dearth of information on practice and standards.<\/p>\n

Counsel too<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I include “counsel too” because – with all due respect, I sense in my work that some of you have so many files open – I’ve heard “dozens”, “hundreds”, depending on the lawyer I was chatting with,\u00a0that it surely precludes taking the\u00a0time\u00a0to check the handbooks for the relevant technical issues in\u00a0a\u00a0case.<\/p>\n

If your expert doesn`t know about this excellent resource – your legal practice handbooks, like\u00a0I didn’t until recently, tell him and bring him up to speed. \u00a0He’ll benefit and you will too by his more informed investigation..<\/p>\n

A bonus\u00a0in checking\u00a0your legal handbooks – you’ll gain\u00a0some appreciation, and not be surprised, at the lengthy forensic investigation an expert must sometimes do, particularly in the obscure, poorly defined fields of practice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Headaches caused by obscure, poorly defined fields of practice Recently, I was researching practice for the forensic investigation of a personal injury accident, and standards for evaluation of the results. The practice and standards were not so well defined and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,16,17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3129"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3129"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3185,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3129\/revisions\/3185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}