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News Room
05/01/2009
Bob Lesley Presents "Working With Experts To Protect Against Daubert Challenges" at ABA Annual Conference
Lathrop & Gage attorney Bob Lesley (Intellectual Property - Kansas City) presented "Dodging the Daubert Bullet: Working With Experts To Protect Against Daubert Challenges," yesterday in Atlanta at the ABA Section of Litigation Annual Conference.
Mr. Lesley and his fellow speakers addressed in their presentation: the significance of Daubert for financial expert admission; various issues that have led to Daubert exclusions of financial experts; illustrations of the right and wrong way to prepare a financial expert based upon Daubert considerations; and an in-house perspective on Daubert motions, experts and outside counsels’ handling of experts. Collaborators on this program were Krista F. Holt of Ocean Tomo, LLC in Bethesda, Maryland; Donnell G. Jennings of Turner Padget Graham & Laney, P.A. (Columbia, S.C.); Henry D. ("Hank") Fellows, Jr. of Atlanta's Fellows LaBriola LLP; and William P. Barnette, from Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. in Atlanta.
"The 1993 Supreme Court decision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow created a new standard for the admissibility of expert testimony," Mr. Lesley said in a paper analyzing these trends, which he co-wrote with Lathrop & Gage's Joan Archer (Intellectual Property - Kansas City). "The standard was rooted in Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence and replaced the one set seventy years earlier in Frye v. United States. In 1999, Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael confirmed that the Daubert standard should be used not only for scientific witnesses, but for all experts, including financial experts.
"In the sixteen years since Daubert, and especially in the ten since Kumho, several factors have emerged that can often determine whether the testimony of a financial expert should be admitted at trial. These factors test the reliability and relevance of an expert’s testimony. Although financial experts are subject to the same general factors as other experts, each field of expertise has nuances with which experts and attorneys should be familiar."
The Section of Litigation's Annual Conference is "a unique opportunity to see, hear, and meet the judges and advocates who are handling the most important litigation issues that are in the news and in courthouses around the country," according to the ABA. Both Mr. Lesley and Ms. Archer have been active in ABA committee leadership on issues related to this presentation. Ms. Archer currently serves as co-chair of the Litigation Section's Expert Witnesses Committee, and in 2008 she was named Outstanding Subcommittee Chair for her service to the profession. Mr. Lesley has tried more than twenty cases, ranging from sophisticated intellectual property disputes, including copyright, trade secret, and trademark infringement, to complex contract litigation. His extensive experience in patent and technology cases includes products as diverse as software, sulfur dioxide scrubbers, and consumer appliances.
About Lathrop & Gage:
A full-service law firm, Lathrop & Gage LLP has almost 300 attorneys in 11 offices across the country, from Los Angeles to New York. In 2008, Chambers USA ranked Lathrop & Gage’s corporate, environmental, intellectual property, litigation, real estate and labor and employment teams among the best in their respective regions. For more information, visit www.lathropgage.com or www.beentherewonthat.com.
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