Civil litigation in relation to personal injury, and coroners' investigations can require information on the risks to which claimants have been exposed, and the consequences of treatments or accidents. This workshop will consider issues and questions which are faced by legal professionals regarding epidemiology and statistical evidence.
Topics
Approaches to evaluating risks of vaccinations, medical treatments and devices and estimating the long-term health outcomes after medical, industrial and traffic injuries will be discussed.
Legal and statistical interpretations of evidence will be compared. The relation between legal questions and statistical concepts is the first consideration. Accessing and assessing data follows, with statistical evaluation of quality and relevance. Alternative methods of estimating treatment effects, quality and length of life will be compared.
Effective approaches to presenting results to different audiences is an important aspect of this workshop. The Statistics and the Law Section of the Royal Statistical Society has contributed to primers for legal professionals:
The use of statistics in legal proceedings: A primer for courts .The Royal Society and the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Statistics and Probability for advocates: understanding the use of statistical evidence in courts and tribunals.
The Inns of Court College of Advocacy and Royal Statistical Society.
This workshop will be an opportunity to evaluate these documents, and recommend modifications or extensions.
Continuing Professional Development
This workshop will provide up to 6 hours of verifiable CPD for the Law Society of Scotland and the Royal Statistical Society.
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His Honour Judge Thomas Teague KC, Chief Coroner of England and Wales, Dec 2020 to May 2024
Astrid Smart KC, Compass Chambers, Edinburgh
Professor Niamh Nic Daeid, Director, Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science, Dundee University
Professor Tim Cole, UCL Institute of Child Health
Mrs Ann Logan, Partner, Balfour + Manson LLP, Edinburgh
Professor Richard Goldberg, Durham Law School
Professor Jane Hutton, Department of Statistics, University of Warwick
Dr Amy Wilson, School of Mathematics, University of Edinburgh
Michael Rawlinson KC, 12 King's Bench Walk
Professor John Norrie FRSE, School of Medicine, University of Edinburgh