Miller Canfield Attorney to Speak at 31st Annual Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan Conference
Thomas C. O’Brien, senior counsel with the law firm of Miller Canfield, will speak at the 31st Anniversary Annual Conference of the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan, to be held March 15-17th at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Novi, Mich. O’Brien’s presentation on Friday, March 16th at 3:15 p.m. will focus on utilizing United States Supreme Court decisions in the Daubert and Crawford cases along with the Michigan Rules of Evidence to limit expert testimony. The three-day advanced skills conference for criminal defense lawyers is expected to draw more than 250 attorneys.
According to O’Brien, "the movement to eliminate so-called junk science in Michigan courts resulted in the amendment of MRE 703 in 2003. Unlike Federal Rule 703, Michigan now requires that the facts or data in the particular case upon which an expert opinion is based must be in evidence. This change in former Michigan practice not only affected civil cases; it made it significantly more difficult for the prosecution to introduce expert testimony."
O’Brien practices in Miller Canfield’s Criminal Defense Group as well as the firm’s Litigation and Dispute Resolution Group. He is a frequent lecturer in the field of trial practice for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and the Institute of Continuing Legal Education. He is listed in both The Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers .
Miller Canfield was established in Detroit in 1852 and employs more than 800 in offices in Michigan, Florida, New York, Canada and Poland.