Court & Custody Evaluations


The Clinical & Forensic Psychology Practice of Dr. Glen Skoler

DrGlenSkoler@Gmail.com • (240) 605-2988

 
 

FORENSIC, CUSTODY & EXPERT WITNESS EVALUATIONS

Serving Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia & the District of Columbia


Criminal Law & Civil Litigation


Criminal Insanity • Mental Competency • Personal Injury • Risk Assessments • Sentencing Evaluations

Psychological, Neuropsychological, Substance Abuse & Sex Offender Evaluations & Testing

Immigration Court Evaluations • Discrimination & Disability Evaluations • Court Martials

Domestic Abuse, Stalking & Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Evaluations

False Confessions • Testamentary Capacity • Civil Rights Litigation


Juvenile & Domestic Relations Evaluations


Custody, Parental Alienation, Parental Fitness & Child Retention/Abduction Evaluations

Juvenile Court Evaluations for Mental Status, Sentencing & Motions to Try Juveniles as Adults

Hague and Non-Hague Child Abduction/Retention Cases


Attorney Consultations & Professional Ethics


Critiques of Psychiatric & Psychological Evidence, Testimony, Reports & Ethics

Evaluations Provided at Attorney Conference Rooms & Detention Centers Upon Request

Forensic Evaluations & Testimony Comply with the APA Code of Ethics & Forensic Guidelines

Services Offered Equally to Defense, Prosecuting, County, Family Law & Civil Litigation Attorneys


Non-Forensic Counseling, Therapy & Psychological Testing


Psychotherapy & Psychodiagnostic Testing for Adults, Couples, Teenagers & Children

IQ, Attention Deficit, Learning Disability & Other Psychoeducational & Neuropsychological Testing

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.


“The prophecies of what the courts will do in fact, and nothing more pretentious, are what I mean by the law.”


“A judge must be aware of social facts. Only a judge or lawyer who is acquainted with the historical, social, and economic aspects of the law will be in a position to fulfill his functions properly.”

   

    Listed below are: 1) a summary of offered court and forensic evaluation services; 2) a link to a full expert witness resume; and 3) a model retainer agreement for forensic psychology services. Attorneys and clients are invited to call with questions about psychological and psychiatric evidence and testimony, or about opposing expert reports.


    Expert witness testimony and forensic psychological evaluations are provided for state criminal, civil, juvenile and family courts; as well as for federal U.S. District, immigration, administrative and military courts. Specialized areas of expertise include political and relationship-related threatening and stalking, as well as interstate child abduction/retention cases and international child abduction/retention cases under the Hague Child Abduction Convention.

   

    The “Children & Teens” webpage discusses issues and controversies regarding juvenile courts, family courts, custody evaluations, child protective services, parental alienation, allegations of child abuse, and and termination of parental rights.


    For discussions and brief essays on individual topics and controversies in court, custody and other forensic psychological evaluations, please select the “Attorneys’ Blog” from the above Navigation Menu. This blog is intended to provide attorneys and judges practical information for evaluating mental health testimony and evidence.


    Attorneys’ websites often have imposing pictures of courts and courtrooms, like the one above. However, I prefer the picture to the right, because it suggests the vast discretionary power of a court over one’s life, freedom, career, reputation, finances, even one’s children.


      Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. famously argued that the law is only a prediction of what courts will do, and that a judge must remain aware of the various social sciences.


    I know, after testifying in court cases for three decades, that judges will often carefully consider psychological testimony––if they view it to be professional, balanced and ethical.

 

Forensic Résumé Summary & Expert Witness Qualifications


Forensic Psychology Education and Selected Training


  1. •APA-Approved Clinical Psychology Training Program, University of Nebraska Law-Psychology Program

  2. •APA-Approved Clinical Psychology Internship/Residency, St. Elizabeths Hospital Forensic Division, NIMH

  3. •UVA Institute of Law, Psychiatry & Public Policy: Basic & Advanced Forensic Training; Risk/Dangerousness Assessment; Expert Testimony; Sex Offender Evaluation Training

  4. •Maryland Correctional Academy, Distinguished Graduate • Harborview Incest Treatment Training

  5. •National Center for Missing & Exploited Children: Child Abduction and Exploitation Evaluation Training


Professional Experience


  1. •Court Psychologist, Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court, Arlington, Virginia

  2. •Correctional Psychologist, Patuxent Institution, Jessup, Maryland

  3. •Supervisory Psychologist, Culpeper Juvenile Correctional Center (16- to 21-year-olds)

  4. •Psychiatric Institute of Washington, Group Practice Unit Psychologist

  5. •National District Attorneys’ Association, Victim-Witness Assistance Project

  6. •National Sheriffs’ Association, Jail Operations Project

  7. •Court Evaluations & Expert Witness Testimony in Private and Group Practices


Selected Publications, Consultations, Presentations & Media Citations


  1. •American Bar Association, National Benchbook on Psychiatric and Psychological Evidence & Testimony. Expert panel member, contributing author, consultant and editor.

  2. •ABA Family Law Quarterly, A Psychological Critique of International Child Custody and Abduction Law.

  3. •John Marshall Law Review, New Hearsay Exceptions for a Child’s Statements of Sexual Abuse.

  4. •The Archetypes and Psychodynamics of Stalking, in The Psychology of Stalking (J. Reid Meloy, Ed.).

  5. •U.S. Secret Service, Saviors of the Nation, Assassins of the Self: A Study of Presidential Threateners.

  6. •The Half-Told Tale of Sergeant Major McKinney, The Washington Post. In the role of the defense psychologist for the first black Sergeant Major of the Army acquitted of sexual misconduct with white women.

  7. •The Washington Post, Outlook, commentary articles on the Clintons’ sex life, the “N-word” in Huckleberry Finn, sexual harassment, and violent toys. NPR interviews on violent toys and Presidential threateners.

  8. •ABA Conference, Whores of the Court: How Psychologists & Psychiatrists Seduce Lawyers & Judges.

  9. •Federal Judicial Center, Presentation on dangerousness prediction & consultant for the federal probation officers’ training manual on “Working with Mentally Disordered Offenders.”

  10. •A Survivor’s Guide to Healthy Living and A Healthy Life: Help In Starting Over For Victims of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, The Barnaba Institute, in press. (A guide for teen victims of sexual exploitation.)

  11. •Clinical Case Consultation for the Chaplain of the U.S. Senate.

  12. •National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Several Case Referrals and Presentations.

  13. •CIA/NSA Psychology Staff, Psychodynamic Differentiation of Political, Celebrity and Relationship Stalkers.

  14. •Presentations for MD State Bar & Anne Arundel Judges on Psychiatric & Psychological Evidence.

  15. •Presentations to the University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Practical Applications in Forensic Psychiatry Grand Rounds Seminar on, The Psychodynamics and Psycho-diagnosis of Stalking (2015), Healing the Incest Wound With or Without the Perpetrator (2016), and Identifying the Feigning and Malingering of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Post-Concussions Syndromes (Scheduled for November, 2017).

  16. •Presentation scheduled for September 22, 2017 to the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, Conference on Litigation Sex Crimes

  17. •Qualified as a clinical & forensic psychologist in several U.S. District, Immigration and Military Courts, and in DC, VA, MD, PA, NJ, NY, NC and TX.


Please Select The Links Below For An Expert Witness Resume. and the Template for Dr. Skoler’s Hourly Retainer Agreement


DrSkoler ExpertResume 2020-E.pdf

DrSkoler HourlyRetainer 2020-D.pdf