Second Opinion/Expert Witness
Dr. Mann is a highly respected expert in rendering second opinions on Custody Evaluations done by other mental health professionals. He is also an Expert Witness for the Board of Psychology. When there are complaints made to the Board of Psychology in the State of California, the Board of Psychology asks Dr. Mann to review the work product to see if it is consistent with California Rules of Court and Ethical Guidelines. In the last 20 years, Dr. Mann has been called upon to review over 100 work products and assist as an Expert in solving problems regarding previous Custody Evaluations. Dr. Mann has testified in many cases. As a consulting Expert Witness, Dr. Mann will do the following:
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Initially review the work product and have a consultation with the attorney regarding the work product.
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Determine what area the work product falls under. Dr. Mann has found about 1/3 of the cases reviewed are in compliance with the Ethics and Procedures required; the work product appears to be internally consistent without bias and the work seems to make sense and is professional. In another 1/3 of the work products reviewed, Dr. Mann found significant failure on the part of the Evaluator, regarding procedures, compliance with ethics, logic, and reasoning. The last 1/3 of cases reviewed, are in a category somewhere in between the previous two described.
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Dr. Mann will then proceed accordingly based on the categories found and make recommendations to the attorney and client on how to proceed. In some cases, he may be able to get the previous report thrown out quickly with minimal expense. In some cases, it may require significant time and cost to proceed. In other cases a solution maybe reached.
Dr. Mann often assists the attorneys in preparing questions for trial
and depositions in disputed custody cases.
Dr. Mann has found that the evaluation work product may have significant weaknesses in the following areas:
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The procedures are not in compliance with acceptable standards. The Evaluator may not have observed the parties in comparable ways. There may be a lack of collateral information gathered. There may not be a balanced amount of time spent. There may be a lack of significant information considered. For example, critical notes from a therapist may not have been collected or reviewed which could be significant in a case.
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The data gathered may not be interpreted accurately, or may be over or under interpreted. The Evaluator began the evaluation process with a hypothesis and found data to support that hypothesis and didn’t entertain other hypotheses.
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The conclusions and recommendations are not consistent with the body of facts in the report.
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The report clearly showed bias and did not control for special cultural differences. The report failed to include information that did not support the conclusion and was left out, supporting the bias projected in the report.
Dr. Mann’s Expert Witness Service in custody cases focuses on the work
product. Dr. Mann is not able to make recommendations as t
o
best interest under these circumstances, since he did not interview all
the parties, nor was he assigned the task to be a Child Custody Evaluator.
He can testify as to hypothetical situations and address specific work product
issues.
Dr. Mann has a strong and powerful success records in correcting defective work products and ensuring the best interest of the children is put into effect. He has testified and has been deposed as an Expert Witness, reviewing other individual’s work products, in over 50 cases. Dr. Mann has also been highly successful in dealing with these defective cases without having to go to Court.
Dr. Mann can be reached for further information for this service by phone or E-mail.
