The Oklahoma Bar Journal January 2024

L itigation & T rial P ractice

Long-Awaited Changes to Rule 702 Impact Qualification and Admissibility of Expert Witness Testimony and May Signal Changes to Oklahoma Law By Timothy F. Campbell and Anamayan Narendran O N APRIL 24, 2023, United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. transmitted amendments to Rules 106, 615 and 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence to then-Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and Vice President Kamela Harris in her ex officio role as president of the Senate. 1 After Congress failed to modify or reject the changes, the chief justice’s proposed revisions went into law Dec. 1, ending a rule-making process begun by the Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules in 2017.

and methods to the facts of the case.

may testify in the form of an opinion or otherwise if:

Of those changes, the new amendments to Rule 702 have the potential to be most impactful for litigators, as Rule 702 governs the qualification and admissibility of expert testimony in federal court. Further, as we will see, state laws analogous to Rule 702, such as Oklahoma’s 12 O.S. §2702, 2 may also be in line for revision prompted by the change to Rule 702. At present, Rule 702 reads as follows: A witness who is qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, expe rience, training, or education

The amended Rule 702, which seeks to clarify the standard a proponent of expert testimony must meet to satisfy the rule and present the testimony to the jury, reads as follows: A witness who is qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, expe rience, training or education may testify in the form of an opinion or otherwise if the proponent demonstrates to the Court that it is more likely than not that:

(a) the expert’s scientific, technical, or other spe cialized knowledge will help the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue; (b) the testimony is based on sufficient facts or data; (c) the testimony is the product of reliable prin ciples and methods; and (d) the expert has reliably applied the principles

Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Oklahoma Bar Association, its officers, Board of Governors, Board of Editors or staff.

36 | JANUARY 2024

THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL