Under the Federal Rules of Evidence, there are 5 elements required for the admissibility of expert opinion:
(1) Helpful to Jury"
(2) Qualified Expert"
(3) Belief to a Reasonable Degree of Certainty"
(4) Proper Factual Basis"
(5) Reliable Scientific Principles, Reliably Applied (aka Daubert Standard)"
In this week's installment of BarMax Bar Clips, we review the element of 'qualified expert' with a little help from My Cousin Vinny (1992)."
In this clip, Marisa Tomei does not take the stand as a qualified expert because of any graduate or professional degree, but rather because of her on-the-job work experience."
Since one can be an expert based on on-the-job work experience, the prosecution was correct to concede and admit her as acceptable."
Stay tuned for our next installment of BarMax Bar Clips."
In the meantime, if you stumble across any movie clips that make you think of the bar exam, please email us at info@getbarmax.com."