Practices in forensic neuropsychology: Perspectives of neuropsychologists and trial attorneys

Members of the National Academy of Neuropsychology and the Association of T rial Lawyers of America were surveyed concerning current practices in foren sic neuropsychology. The majority of neuropsychologists and attorneys repor ted that attorneys never observe neuropsychological testing. Attorneys repo rted receiving raw data in almost all of their brain injury cases, but neur opsychologists reported that they produce raw data in only a minority of th eir forensic cases. Similarly, fewer neuropsychologists than attorneys ackn owledged that they are asked to provide information to assist the lawyer in preparing for the cross-examination of the opposition's expert or to prepa re the plaintiff for the opposition's evaluation. Lawyers typically spend u p to an hour preparing their clients for neuropsychological evaluations and commonly cover test content, detection of malingering, and brain injury sy mptoms. Other topics addressed include attorney influence on findings, fees and billing, board certification, use of technicians, and methods used to generate referrals or locate experts. Areas of agreement and divergence bet ween the groups were identified and ethical issues raised by identified pra ctices were examined. (C) 2001 National Academy of Neuropsychology. Publish ed by Elsevier Science Ltd.