Dr. Cochrane, a Registered Psychologist, is qualified by the State and Provincial Boards of Psychology in the USA and Canada. His CPD seminars on Law-Related Psychology are accredited by the New York State Continuing Legal Education Board and the Law Society of BC. He has been published in numerous American and Canadian law journals including three separate articles in the Journal of the New York State Bar Association.
Dr. Cochrane has conducted psychology-focused Independent Medical Examinations and consultations for Canadian and American law firms and for the Justice Department of Canada. His initial research on hypnosis was published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology and cited in the Harvard Guide to Psychiatry. He has provided expert testimony on “hypnosis-enhanced” eye-witness testimony, on human memory and on validity problems in psychological assessment measures. His book, Psychology and the Law: Hard Science Tools for Cross-Examining Soft Science Experts (© 2021) provides the mainstream research for his seminars.
Note: Interested Law Firms and Organizations can arrange an exclusive presentation of these seminars by contacting Dr. Cochrane directly
A Lawyer’s Guide to Psychology/Psychiatry IME’s
(3.0 Credit Hours – Law Society of B.C.)
Presented By:
Dr. Gordon Cochrane, R. Psych.
You will learn:
- How to effectively challenge the validity of the expert’s assessment methods rather than ineffectively challenging his/her assessment results.
- How to strategically use the principle of assessment standardization to effectively challenge any form of IME diagnosis.
- How to identify and effectively challenge assessor subjectivity and bias in IME’s derived from the frequently employed Structured Clinical Interview.
- How to identify and effectively challenge expansively creative diagnoses, prognoses and recommendations in an expert’s IME report.
Hypnosis, Memory and Admissibility
(3.0 Credit Hours – Law Society of B.C.)
Presented By:
Dr. Gordon Cochrane, R. Psych.
You will learn:
- About key aspects of hypnosis including: expectancy; direct and indirect suggestion; absorption; perceived reality; imaginative creativity and elevated confidence in that which is recalled.
- A comprehensive summary of the research on the malleability of human memory and how hypnosis can further complicate the malleability issue.
- How to most effectively approach the admissibility issue by focusing on mainstream research as opposed to precedence and expert opinions.
- How, as a lawyer, you can use “hypnosis” for rehearsal of your important personal and professional undertakings.
Psychometric Validity in IME’s
(3.0 Credit Hours – Law Society of B.C.)
Presented By:
Dr. Gordon Cochrane, R. Psych.
You will learn:
- What constitutes psychometric validity.
- Why this “academic” term, when expressed in everyday English is so easily understood and of such obvious value in cross-examinations of IME’s.
- How to use frequently employed but psychometrically invalid assessment measures such as the Rorschach; Myers Briggs; Neo-Personality Inventory and clinical “short form tests” to illustrate for the court why the assessment measures and clinical opinions used in your client’s IME should be given little or no weight.
- Why you can be confident about challenging any IME when you know that most psychology/psychiatry assessment methods lack psychometric validity.
- How to illustrate, for the trier-of-fact, that a Structured Clinical Interview is actually semi-structured often results in differing diagnoses of the same person.
Preparing Your Psychology/Psychiatry Expert
(3.0 Credit Hours – Law Society of B.C.)
Presented By:
Dr. Gordon Cochrane, R. Psych.
You will learn:
- To assume that your expert, especially if he/she is a primary care professional, lacks your experience and insights concerning hard-science cross-examinations.
- How to communicate with your expert in a manner that is respectful and invitational but still effectively imparts the necessary preparatory information.
- How to diplomatically but effectively ensure that your expert can answer validity questions. Many experts are extremely vulnerable in this realm.
- How to rehearse, with your expert, his/her handling of anticipated cross-examination questions on themes such as: assessor bias; appeal to authority; psychological metaphors vs psychological constructs; expertise boundaries; prognosis boundaries; personal jabs.
Assessing Witness Credibility
(3.0 credit Hours – Law Society of B.C.)
Presented By:
Dr. Gordon Cochrane, R. Psych.
You will learn:
- That in spite of confident protestations to the contrary, nobody does better than chance when assessing witness credibility.
- How the pseudo-science of credibility assessment relies upon a wide range of meaning attributions.
- The current research on non-verbal cues; voice tone cues and gaze-pattern cues.
- How bias and excessive self-confidence contaminate one’s assessments.
- How to effectively deflate uncorroborated credibility assessments by or about a witness.
Employment Law & Employee Mental Health
(3.0 credit Hours – Law Society of B.C.)
Presented By:
Dr. Gordon Cochrane, R. Psych.
You will learn:
- How to shield your clients from detrimental decisions arising from the use of commonly-used but psychometrically invalid and unreliable “In-House” tests.
- How to effectively challenge a primary care mental health diagnosis that could unfairly impact your client’s career.
- How to effectively challenge wrongful dismissals that arise from flawed diagnoses, meaning attributions; allegations of malingering and other forms of pseudo-psychology.
- How you can shield your client from return-to-work decisions that are more deemed than evidence-based.
Psychology and the Law: What We Know and What We Know That Isn’t So
Presented By:
Dr. Gordon Cochrane, R. Psych. &
Mark J. Cochrane, Barrister & Solicitor.
This CLE seminar is accredited for six professional hours by the New York State Continuing Legal Education Board.
Case law is used to make practical each of these seminar themes:
- Psychological Assessments: Construct Validity & Test Validity
- Research Design and Treatment Efficacy
- The DSM-5-TR Personality Disorders
- Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in the DSM-5-TR
- The Unreliability of Unverified Memory: Eye-Witness Testimony
- The Mythology of Reliable Truth Assessment
- Fringe Psychology
- Performance Rehearsal
If the NYSCLEB credit hours are to be applied, we cannot deviate from the program outline. If local state or provincial credit hours are applied, we can adapt the content to accommodate specific interests.
*Please Note:
The research supporting each of these seminars is available in the applicable chapter from Dr. Cochrane’s e-book, Psychology & the Law: Hard Science Tools for Cross-Examining Soft Science Experts, Revised Edition, 2022.