The PTSD Litigation Toolkit: Neuropsychological Evidence, Strategic Case Development, and Client-Centered Advocacy

This session will provide attorneys with a practical and scientifically grounded analysis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), equipping legal professionals with the knowledge to navigate cases where psychological trauma plays a critical role. Moving beyond basic definitions, the session will delve into the neurobiology of trauma, highlighting how PTSD affects brain function, memory, and behavior, and examine how these changes may manifest in legal settings. Attorneys will learn to recognize behavioral and emotional indicators of PTSD in their clients, understand the diagnostic process and common comorbidities, and determine when referral for psychological evaluation may be appropriate. The session will also address the unique considerations PTSD raises in both plaintiff and defense cases, including questions of causation, credibility, malingering, and expert testimony.

Psychological injuries—especially Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder—regularly shape the value and strategy of catastrophic-injury lawsuits, from mass-tort events and transportation accidents to product-liability and premises claims. Yet PTSD evidence is uniquely vulnerable to procedural attacks, insurer skepticism, and expert-witness pitfalls. Drawing on her track record securing eight- and nine-figure recoveries in complex, cross-border cases, Erin Applebaum will show how to transform clinical findings into admissible, persuasive courtroom proof. The session distills multi-jurisdictional admissibility rules (e.g., Daubert, Frye, treaty-based actions), best practices for working with forensic psychologists, and real-world tactics for impeaching unreliable assessments or exposing malingering. By session’s end, attorneys will know when to invest in robust PTSD development, how to defend or dismantle mental-health testimony, and how to translate diagnostic data into damages that withstand settlement negotiations and trial scrutiny.

In this session, we will begin by identifying the intersections between PTSD, domestic violence, and our family court system. Attendees will gain a better understanding of how the trauma of abuse can directly affect a survivor’s experience of and ability to navigate our complex family court system. We will explore examples of post-separation abuse, including delay tactics and litigation abuse, and we will gain a better understanding of the role a protective parent’s safety plays in the best interests of their children. We will analyze the real-life impacts of gender bias in society, in ourselves, and in our courts, to discover ways we can prevent those biases from causing further harm to protective mothers in family court. Next, we will learn what it means to provide trauma-responsive lawyering, including how to recognize trauma responses in our clients and what we can do to minimize retraumatization through our legal representation. Attendees will discover why trauma-responsive lawyering is not only ideal but arguably proscribed by our Florida Rules of Professional Responsibility. Attendees will leave this session with a better understanding of the specific needs of and difficulties faced by mothers attempting to protect themselves and their children against abusive fathers through our family court system, as well as the necessity for lawyers to be trauma-informed in order to provide the competent, diligent, and zealous representation required of us.