Areas of Expertise
We can perform evaluations to address a broad variety of issues, including:
Criminal Evaluations
Criminal Responsibility (Insanity Defense, Mental State Evaluations, Guilty but Mentally Ill, etc)
Criminal Competencies (Competence to Stand Trial, Competence to Waive Rights)
Aggravating Factors, Mitigating Factors, and Mitigation of Sentence
Other
Suicide Risk Assessment
Dangerousness/Violence Risk Assessment
Civil Evaluations
Civil Competencies (Competency to Enter into a Contract, Testamentary Capacity, Competency to make Treatment Decisions/Give Informed Consent, etc)
Need for Guardianship/Conservatorship
Disability Evaluations
Independent Medical Examinations
Fitness for Duty Evaluations
Impaired Professional Evaluations
Psychiatric Malpractice
Please note that this list is not intended to be comprehensive, but rather to give some examples of services we provide. Our standard practice, in all evaluations, is to provide thorough, ethical service and strive for objectivity to the greatest extent possible. We are paid for the time we spend on the case, not for any particular opinion. Because we understand that decisions to retain, and how to make use of, an expert are strategic ones, we follow a general process (outlined below) to the greatest degree possible for every evaluation.
We first discuss the details of the case with each potential client (generally an attorney or agent of the court) to determine if it is likely our services may be relevant to the case, and if we are able to take the case. Sometimes this consultation can be done over the phone, other times we may request that you set an appointment for an in-person consultation. We do not charge for this initial consultation.
If, based on the initial consultation we believe our services may be relevant to the case, and we have the ability to take the case, we will provide a fee schedule and draft a contract regarding our involvement in the case, detailing our retainer, how and when we are to be paid, and what services we will provide. Once this has been signed and the initial retainer received, we will review the relevant records in the case. We will next perform an in-person evaluation and request any necessary testing. Next, we prepare a report, if requested or required, detailing our evaluation and opinion.
If at any point in this process we believe the results of our evaluation are unlikely to be helpful to the retaining party, we will discuss this prior to any further work to determine how to proceed. It is important to note that the applicability of this process may be limited in the case of court-ordered evaluations.
We offer a single hourly rate for all activities related to a case (record review, interview, report preparation, testimony, and in some cases, travel related to the case). We cannot ethically work on a contingency basis because of the risks contingency fees pose to the objectivity of the evaluation. If you wish to discuss our services with relation to your case, would like further information regarding fees, or have any other questions, please contact us, so that we can discuss how we might be of assistance.