Virginia: Special Cases – a Lawyer’s Memory

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Washington Lawyer is the official journal of the District of Columbia Bar. A feature article in its issue for November, 2014, is “A FLAWED RECORD: THE FRAGILITY OF WITNESS MEMORY”. Id. at 22-29.

Although the Washington Lawyer article focuses on the special case of fragile witness memory mainly in the context of criminal prosecutions, its observations apply equally in the context of civil litigation for wrongful death and personal injuries. “We have this very convenient myth that memory is like a tape recorder or video recorder”. Id. at 23 (emphasis added).

“Personally”, Washington Lawyer quotes a leading forensic mediolegal expert, “I would like to have independent accounts of a number of eyewitnesses rather than trying to get a solo account from one person. You need to look to multiple sources of information when it comes to memory.” Id. at 27.

Mr. Waterman has been a member of the District of Columbia Bar for almost 20 years. His practice focuses on vehicle accidents, medical malpractice, and other wrongful deaths and brain injuries.

THE VIRGINIA STATE BAR REQUIRES ALL LAWYERS TO POST THE FOLLOWING DISCLAIMERS ON ALL CASE-RELATED POSTS. MR. WATERMAN’S CASE RESULTS AND CLIENT TESTIMONIALS DEPEND UPON A VARIETY OF FACTORS UNIQUE TO EACH CASE. THEY DO NOT GUARANTEE OR PREDICT A SIMILAR RESULT IN ANY FUTURE CASE BY HIM.