| 8:00-8:30 |
Registration
& Continental Breakfast |
| 8:30-9:00 |
Introduction: Physicians
will learn when to write their expert report and more importantly when not
to write an expert report. The law governing the discoverability and
admissibility of medical-legal reports will be explained. The specific
reasons why a well-written report is of crucial importance will be
explained. Questions and Answers |
| 9:00-9:30 |
Legal Requirements
of Reports: Physicians will learn the legally mandated
content requirements for Rule 26 Reports for cases in federal court and
reports used to oppose or support motions for summary judgment (Rule 56
motions). Questions and Answers |
| 9:30-10:00 |
Formatting: Physicians
will learn the optimum ways to format an expert report and how this can
assist them during cross-examination. The importance of proper
formatting will be emphasized, with a specific discussion of cover
pages, fonts, topic headings, paragraph breaks and lengths, spacing, and
page numbering. A mock trial demonstration will emphasize the importance
of proper formatting. Model medical-legal reports with superior
formatting will be provided. Questions and Answers |
| 10:00-10:30 |
Medical Records and
Authority/Research Reviewed: Through a combination of
didactic presentations, interactive writing exercises, and mock trial
demonstrations, physicians will learn the best way to document in a
medical-legal report the medical records and research upon which the
physician's opinion was based and the importance of doing this in a
proper manner. What should and should not be included will be discussed.
Questions and Answers |
| 10:30-10:45 |
Break (Networking
Opportunity) |
| 10:45-11:15 |
Qualifications of
the Physician: The physician's stating of his own
qualifications in a medical-legal report is an area where avoidable
mistakes with severe consequences are all too often made. Through
didactic presentations, interactive writing exercises and a mock trial
demonstration, physicians will learn the importance of accurately and
objectively stating one's qualifications and the common errors that
physicians often make in this area. Questions and Answers |
| 11:15-11:45 |
Properly Expressing
Your Opinion: The purpose of a medical-legal report is the
expression of the physician's opinion. This opinion should be expressed
in a clear, confident and supportable manner. Through didactic
presentations, interactive writing exercises and a mock trial
demonstration, physicians will learn how to properly express an opinion
and the reasoning for that opinion in a medical-legal report and the
common pitfalls to avoid in this area. Questions and Answers |
| 11:45-12:00 |
Catching Mistakes
Before They Catch You: Through didactic presentations and a
mock trial demonstration, physicians will learn the importance of
proofreading their medical-legal reports and how to catch and correct
the most commonly made errors in medical-legal reports. Questions and
Answers |
| 12:00-1:00 |
Lunch (Provided With
Faculty) |
| 1:00-2:45 |
Drafting a Powerful,
Defensible Report: Through didactic presentations,
interactive writing exercises and a mock trial demonstration, physicians
will learn 20 proven techniques to make their medical-legal reports more
powerful, persuasive, and defensible. Specific techniques explained will
include: avoidance of absolute words, staying within the expert's true
area of expertise, red flag words to avoid in expert reports, common
damaging superfluous language that should not appear in medical-legal
reports, the avoidance of hedge words and over a dozen more specific
techniques. Questions and Answers |
| 2:45-3:00 |
Break (Networking
Opportunity) |
| 3:00-4:00 |
Defending Your
Report During Cross Examination: Through didactic
presentations and mock trial demonstrations, physicians will learn the
25 most effective tactics counsel uses to attack a physician through his
report and, more importantly, specific advice on how to defend against
each and every one of these tactics. Questions and Answers |
| 4:00-5:00 |
Report Critiques
(Optional): Physicians will have the opportunity to have an
actual expert report of theirs critiqued by a physician. Physicians who
wish to participate in this part of the program should bring one of
their shorter reports with them to the conference. |
