Insights & Events

Hollingsworth LLP’s Eric Lasker was interviewed by Law360 reporter Cara Salvatore regarding amendments to Federal Rule of Evidence 702, which take effect on December 1. The cornerstone evidence guideline amendments direct federal judges to take a systematic look at the science underpinning expert opinions.

Lasker, who helped create the momentum that ultimately changed the rules with a 2015 William & Mary Law Review article co-written with David Bernstein of George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, explained how the new amendments will affect trial lawyers, federal judges, state courts, and perhaps even the national regard for science itself.

Lasker shared that Rule 702 asserts that it is not enough to have an expert that is credentialed. The expert’s opinions must be based on reliable facts, reliable methodology, and the expert must show that their opinions reflect reliable application of the methodology and facts.

“From my perspective, one of the broader imports of the amendment is that it provides courts with further tools to address what I think is a major problem, which is distrust in science,” Lasker said.

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