Expert Witness Testimony Workshop
Description
Overview
Senior lawyers and clinicians will provide skills and knowledge to attendees to excel as, or engage with, expert witnesses
About this event
Psychologists and psychiatrists acting as expert witnesses are tasked with forming and communicating an expert opinion, grounded in clinical expertise, to assist a decision-maker (such as a court or a legal tribunal) regarding a matter of dispute in which mental health factors are potentially relevant.
In this two-day workshop, senior lawyers, psychologists, and psychiatrists will provide attendees with the skills and knowledge to become confident in the role of expert witness, or to examine, cross-examine, or otherwise engage expert witnesses, based on the relevant literature and their experiences in law and forensic psychiatry.
Day 1 - Hear from seasoned expert witnesses, a senior barrister, and a Supreme Court Justice on what makes effective mental health expert witness evidence and how to prepare and approach oral testimony under examination-in-chief and cross-examination.
Topics include
Preparing for and handling cross-examination
Formulating clinical opinions to assist with sentencing
Managing the lawyer/expert interface
Application of relevant Supreme Court Expert Evidence Notes
Day 2 - Participants will have opportunity to both observe and practice giving oral evidence and be cross-examined by real barristers in mock court, using a case example from which you will derive your own opinion and recommendations. (See below for further details)*
Time and location
Graduate House, 220 Leicester St Carlton, VIC 3053
Day 1 (Friday 23/10) 9.30 for 10 am - 4 pm.
Day 2 (Saturday 24/10) 10 am - 3 pm.
Catering is provided.
Please email us at vic@anzappl.org for more information.
*Day 2 details:
The format of Day 2 has changed from previous iterations of this workshop to enhance opportunity for experiential learning. It is intended that all attendees will have opportunity to practice oral testimony, in as real-world a scenario as possible. To achieve this, mental health practitioner attendees will be expected to develop their own written opinion (based on a supplied case study) in advance of the workshop, on which they will be cross-examined.
How will this work?
After enrolling in the workshop, you will be provided with your choice of either pre-sentence, mental impairment, or fitness to stand trial case study, in which the main body of the report is complete.
You are asked to complete your own opinion and recommendations section in advance of the workshop. Completed opinions must be submitted no later than 10/10/2026 to allow volunteer barristers sufficient time to prepare their cross examination.
Bring a copy of your opinion on the day, as you would to court. And while it might feel realistic, remember that it is better to practice in a mock setting than to miss the opportunity!
About the Speakers
Justice Rita Incerti
Justice Rita Incerti sits in the Trial Division of the Supreme Court of Victoria, presiding over complex criminal trials, bail applications, and proceedings under the Crimes (Mental Impairment and Unfitness to be Tried) Act 1997 and the Serious Offenders Act 2018. She has served as President of the Forensic Leave Panel since 2023. Before joining the bench, her Honour gained extensive legal experience specialising in health law, insurance law, and personal injuries litigation. She was sworn in as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria in March 2010 and subsequently assisted with the Kilmore East-Kinglake bushfire litigation, a large class action arising from the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires. In February 2015, her Honour was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court, becoming the first Associate Justice in the Court’s history to be elevated to that office. She oversaw hundreds of matters in the Supreme Court’s Personal Injuries and Dust Diseases List before joining the Criminal Trial Division. Justice Incerti previously worked as a teacher in both mainstream and special education. She returned to the University of Melbourne to study law in 1991, graduating with first-class honours and receiving the Anna Brennan Memorial Prize and the Joan Rosanove QC Memorial Prize.
Tim Marsh
Tim Marsh has practiced exclusively in criminal law for over 20 years. Tim was appointed as a Senior Public Defender at Victoria Legal Aid in 2011. In 2013, he was appointed as Chief Counsel, and for the next 7 years led VLA Chambers, before returning to the Bar in 2020. Tim has a strong practice in mental impairment and disability law, where his work at first instance and on appeal have helped clarify and reshape how the Victorian Courts treat offenders with mental illnesses. In 2020, his advocacy in the decision of Brown v The Queen saw the 2017 case of DPP v O'Neill overturned, allowing courts to take personality disorders into account in sentencing. Tim was counsel in the landmark case of DPP v Walters, which saw the controversial 'baseline sentencing' reforms declared 'incapable of practical application' by the Court of Appeal. Tim regularly appears in serious homicide cases and in 2021, he successfully resisted an attempt by the DPP to overturn the 36-year sentence imposed on Cody Herrmann before a full bench of the Court of Appeal in a decision of national significance for the sentencing of aboriginal offenders. Tim was a member of the Victorian Law Reform Steering Committee for the VLRC reference into mental impairment and is a past legal member of the Mental Health Review Board.
Dr Andrew Carroll
Dr Andrew Carroll has worked as a forensic psychiatrist in both treatment and assessment roles in Australia for over 25 years. He has extensive experience as an expert witness in both criminal and civil fields, with a busy private practice in assessment work, training, and consulting. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science (Swinburne University of Technology) and has published on a range of topics including the interface between mental disorder and sentencing in the criminal courts.
Dr Michael Davis
Dr Michael Davis is a Forensic Clinical Psychologist in full time private practice. He has adjunct appointments at Swinburne, Monash, and Melbourne Universities and is the Immediate Past National Chair of the APS College of Forensic Psychologists. Dr Davis’ consulting practice is divided between forensic clinical assessment tasks and providing behavioural investigative advice to police agencies. He has provided behavioural investigative advice to police in several countries across three continents and serves as an instructor to the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI. Dr Davis has conducted hundreds of assessments for the courts and in consultation for area mental health services, government departments, and private lawyers in every Australian state and territory. He has provided expert evidence several hundred times on the topics of risk assessment, personality disorder, and sexual deviance.
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