The Oklahoma Bar Journal March 2023

The current article will attempt to inform the reader of the most common missteps of mental health professionals, how they can be identified and how an attorney can effectively bring such errors to light for the trier of fact. EXAMINE THE ORIGINAL SOURCE DOCUMENTS Oftentimes, lawyers receive only the end work product in the form of a report with opinions. This report may or may not accu rately reflect the underlying data. Some experts don’t even provide a “methods” section outlining the data upon which they relied, which should be a red flag. Unfortunately, mental health professionals are also not immune from misrep resentation and bias. Research shows that experts are prone to providing more favorable opinions

on the highest level of licensure the person possesses. The person can, at times, be identified by a string of abbreviated certifica tions after their name. The legal professional should also be aware of “vanity diplomates” or other supposed credentials a proffered expert may tout, as many of them involve little more than paying to take an open-book test and receive a certification to present to the judiciary or clients. Legitimate board certification represents an additional, higher-level demon stration of credentialing, often including both written and oral examinations. However, like licen sure, board certification does not ensure the quality of services. The quality of services is determined by examining methodology, rea soning and other factors within a particular case.

knowledge of how to access their state board’s website to check for licensure, sanction history, etc. In addition, these sites typically provide the rules for various pro fessionals, outlining their areas of expertise and limitations. A note of caution: In some instances, master’s degree-level clinicians sometimes also possess doctoral-level degrees, including the term “psychology” in the degree, but they are often obtained from programs that do not allow them to become licensed at the doctoral level ( e.g. , online degrees, degrees from programs not sufficiently accredited, etc.). Nonetheless, their respective boards do allow such profession als to use the title of “Dr.,” further confusing legal professionals as to their level of expertise. I would recommend that legal professionals focus not just on degree or title but

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THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL