Schwartz: Judges Should Act as Gatekeepers to Screen Unreliable Testimony

It is more important than ever for judges to protect innocent defendants from being held responsible for harms they did not cause, Shook Public Policy Practice Group Co-Chair Victor Schwartz wrote in a law review article for the Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law.

In the article, titled “Expert Evidence: The Gatekeeper Role of Justice,” Schwartz discusses the role expert witnesses play in civil jury trials, as well as the role of trial judges as gatekeepers to protect jurors from unreliable expert testimony. 

He said such gatekeeping goes beyond determining whether an expert has academic qualifications.  

"Rather, the key inquiry is whether the expert's proposed testimony about issues such as causation relies on a sound scientific methodology, which the expert reliably applies to the facts of the case before the court," he said.

Read the article in the Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law >>