{"id":4279,"date":"2016-01-15T13:55:02","date_gmt":"2016-01-15T17:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/?p=4279"},"modified":"2016-01-15T13:55:02","modified_gmt":"2016-01-15T17:55:02","slug":"peer-reviewing-an-experts-report-ensures-the-justice-system-gets-what-it-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/15\/peer-reviewing-an-experts-report-ensures-the-justice-system-gets-what-it-needs\/","title":{"rendered":"Peer reviewing an expert’s report ensures the justice system gets what it needs"},"content":{"rendered":"

That\u00a0is, thorough forensic investigations\u00a0and reliable, objective expert reports.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Civil procedure rules governing expert’s reports are strict. (Ref. 1, 2)\u00a0 You can’t have a good report without a\u00a0thorough investigation.\u00a0 Peer reviewing\u00a0an expert’s report ensures a thorough investigation.<\/p>\n

Peer review is needed but isn’t being provided.\u00a0 I’ve read four poorly written expert reports in\u00a0recent years\u00a0based on inadequate investigation and reasoning.\u00a0 Really, very little investigation in most cases and no reasoning\u00a0in all cases.\u00a0 I’m sure there are others out there.<\/p>\n

Peer review is\u00a0needed in forensic engineering every bit as much as in scientific research.\u00a0 Research\u00a0papers are published in reputable journals\u00a0only after\u00a0they are peer reviewed.<\/p>\n

Peer review is provided for in the remediation of petroleum contaminated sites.\u00a0 The provincial governments in Atlantic\u00a0Canada\u00a0reserve the right to peer review a report on the remediation of a contaminated site according to the Atlantic\u00a0risk based corrective action process (RBCA). (Ref. 3)<\/p>\n

There’s no question the standard of care for expert reports\u00a0must be\u00a0as high as that for research papers and reports on remediated sites.<\/p>\n

I published an item on peer review in the past (Ref. 4) but was reminded of\u00a0it when I was reviewing a recent\u00a0handbook on expert\u00a0work. (Ref. 5)\u00a0 Also when I was reviewing the\u00a0RBCA process recently.\u00a0 Peer review is referenced\u00a038\u00a0times in the index of the 626 page\u00a0handbook.\u00a0 The authors discuss peer review on dozens of\u00a0pages.\u00a0 Their guidance in this text – and previous handbooks on report writing (Ref. 6, 7), is based on review of 100s of civil cases.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

In science,\u00a0peer review\u00a0is the process by which an author’s\u00a0work is checked by a group of experts in the same field – his peers, people of similar qualifications, experience, and competence.\u00a0 They\u00a0make sure it meets the necessary standards before it is accepted and published. (Ref.\u00a08)\u00a0 It constitutes a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field (Ref. 9).<\/p>\n

Put another way (Ref. 10), peer review is specifically geared to (my parenthetic additions):<\/p>\n