Shannon Proctor to Speak at 20th Annual Judicial Symposium on Civil Justice Issues
event | November 9, 2026
On November 9, 2026, Firm partner Shannon Proctor will serve as a panelist at the Judicial Symposium on Civil Justice Issues hosted by the Law & Economics Center (LEC) at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School. The Judicial Symposium helps judges make sense of America’s rapidly changing civil justice environment. Shannon will speak on the Session II panel “Judicial Gatekeeping of Expert Testimony: Discretionary or Mandatory? Sua Sponte Duty or Party Presentation Principle?”
Federal Rule of Evidence 702 imposes an independent gatekeeping obligation on the trial court to ensure expert reliability. Because the rule mandates that the court determine admissibility before an expert testifies, active judicial oversight is required even if counsel fail to challenge. Leaving Rule 702 enforcement entirely to the parties abdicates the court’s core responsibility to keep unreliable expert testimony away from the jury.