Scientific Evidence Workshop

Science, Technology, and Law Program
September 7, 2000
The National Academies
2101 Constitution Avenue
Washington, D.C.

8:00 Continental Breakfast

8:30 Welcome and Introductions

Richard A. Merrill
Daniel Caplin Professor of Law, University of Virginia Law School
Co-Chair, Science, Technology, and Law Program

8:40 How does Scientific Expert Testimony Compare with Scientific Practice?

Moderator:

Hon. Richard A. Levie
Principal, ADR Associates, L.L.C.
Senior Judge, Superior Court of the District of Columbia (ret.)

Panelists:

Epidemiology:

David Ozonoff
Professor and Chair, Department of Environmental Health
School of Public Health, Boston University

John Samet
Professor and Chair, Department of Epidemiology,
Schoolof Public Health, The Johns Hopkins University

Toxicology:

Bernard D. Goldstein
Director, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute,
UMDNJ - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Differential Diagnosis:

M. Gregg Bloche
Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law School
Adjunct Professor of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University

Commentator:

Hon. Sam C. Pointer, Jr.
Lightfoot, Franklin, & White
U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Alabama (ret.)

10:30 Break

10:45 Emerging Issues

Moderator:

Joel E. Cohen
Abby Rockefeller Mauze Professor, and Head, Laboratory of Populations,
The Rockefeller University and Columbia University

Issue One: To What Extent are Evidentiary Rulings Becoming Substantive Standards of Law?

Presenter:

Margaret A. Berger
Suzanne J. and Norman Miles Professor of Law,
Brooklyn School of Law

Commentators:

Leon Gordis
Professor of Epidemiology, School of Public Health,
Professor of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, The JohnsHopkins University

Michael H. Gottesman

Professor of Law, Georgetown University

Issue Two: The Ethics of Expert Evidence

Presenter:

Sheila Jasanoff
Professor of Science and Public Policy
John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

Commentator:

Donald N. Bersoff
Professor of Law and Director of the Law and Psychology Program
Villanova School of Law

Issue Three: Using Social Science to Affect Policy: Eyewitness Research as a Successful Example

Presenter:

Gary L. Wells
Professor of Psychology, Iowa State University

Commentator:

Shari Diamond
Professor of Law, Northwestern University Law School

12:45 Lunch

Gina Kolata
Science Desk, The New York Times

2:00 Research Sponsored by Parties to Challenge, Support, or Influence Ongoing Judicial or Regulatory Proceedings. How does sponsorship affect research and the way it is perceived? How should such research be structured? Should the sponsor have access to the data? How does such research differ from other forms of sponsored research? What safeguards need to be in place?

Moderator:

Donald Kennedy
Bing Professor of Environmental Sciences and President Emeritus
Stanford University
Editor-in-Chief, Science
and Co-Chair, Science, Technology, and Law Program

Panelists:

Marsha Rabiteau
Counsel, The Dow Chemical Company

Channing R. Robertson
Ruth G. and William K. Bowes Professor,
Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University

William B. Schultz
Deputy Assistant Attorney General
Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice

4:00 Break

4:15 Different Perspectives in Search of Mutual Understanding

Moderator:

Paul D. Carrington
Harry R. Chadwick Senior Professor of Law, Duke University Law School

Presentator:

Michael H. Hoeflich
John H. and John M. Kane Professor of Law, University of Kansas Law School

Commentators:

David A. Freedman
Professor of Statistics, University of California, Berkeley

Patrick A. Malone
Stein, Mitchell & Mezines

5:15 Closing Remarks

Hon. Andre M. Davis
Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland