AAWRE Hosts Special Ethics & Expert Sessions at EWRI Congress

Ethics Panel session attendees participate in discussion

AAWRE hosted special engineering ethics and expert witness sessions on May 23-25, during the 2011 EWRI World Water and Environmental Resources Congress in Palm Springs, California. Two separate engineering ethics panel discussion sessions and two 'How to be an Effective Expert Witness' sessions were offered as special 2-hour sessions during the Congress week. These sessions provided all attendees a convenient opportunity to fulfill annual Professional Development Hour (PDH) Ethics requirements. The sessions were presented as interactive 2-hour courses, with opportunities for small group discussions, which served as great opportunities for more than 150 engineers and professionals to freshen up and learn new perspectives on ethics and how to become an expert witness for legal cases.

The participants in the panel discussions on engineering ethics included moderator, Steve Starrett, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE, F.ASCE; Don Frevert, P.E., D.WRE; Amy Lara, Ph.D.; Brian Wahlin, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE and Lisa Wahlin, Esq. Dr. Starrett is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Kansas State University and has instructed several ethics sessions at past EWRI Congresses; Don Frevert is a retired government engineer from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation; Amy Lara is a professor of philosophy at Kansas State University; Brian Wahlin is a consulting engineer at WEST Consultants; and Lisa Wahlin is a practicing attorney. The ethics panel discussion sessions focused on this diverse group of panelists and what they felt were most challenging ethical situations engineers and other professionals are facing today and what approaches they use to solve dilemmas. The sessions provided ample opportunities for participants to dive into engaging discussions on ethical situations and solutions.

Rick Van Bruggen, P.E., D.WRE instructed Being an Effective Expert Witness in which the session explored the role of the expert witness in litigation support and trial testimony. The session offered various methods for being a more effective expert, both in dealing with client lawyers and providing more effective and memorable testimony to the judge and jury at trial. The process of delivery of testimony was discussed in the context of the expert being the teacher and the jury as class. Mr. Van Bruggen's session offered persuasive strategies for making complex technical concepts more understandable to the jury, in which they were presented by examples in the field of water resources engineering. Rick is the principal of Water Resources Consulting Services in Windsor, CA.

AAWRE Board public member, Kenneth Goodwin, Esq., presented How to be an Effective Expert Witness session for the second straight year. Mr. Goodwin's session explored the legal basis for allowing expert testimony, the qualifications an expert must possess in order to qualify to render an opinion on any given subject, what an attorney looks for in an expert, how to approach the "project of serving as an expert witness," rendering and giving an expert deposition, and giving live testimony at trial. Mr. Goodwin has been a practicing attorney for over 30 years in the New Orleans area and is now based in San Diego.

AAWRE first conducted an ethics session at the 2006 EWRI Congress in Omaha, Nebraska and plan to continue to contribute to the EWRI Congresses in future with additional ethics and expert witness sessions.

American Academy of Water Resources Engineers
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