July 22, 2007

Those who follow the Daubert/scientific evidence wars will want to catch the back-and-forth between Beck and Herrmann and Peter Nordberg on the question of whether expert witnesses should be required to testify to a "reasonable degree of professional certainty" as to their conclusions. The exchange begins here, when Beck and Herrmann take note of a surprising ALI restatement proposal that would water the standard down to "more likely than not"; continues with Peter Nordberg's detailed response of last month criticizing the "reasonable degree of certainty" threshold; and has now proceeded to an also-detailed rebuttal from Beck and Herrmann, concluding that watering down the old formula would do much to increase the quantity of expert testimony but would be rather perilous as to its quality.