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PsychLaw Provides the Expertise You Can Count On
PsychLaw is a clinical and forensic psychology firm providing psychological services that help courts answer psycho-legal questions. Our orientation is to blend quality science with the law. We specialize in providing expert analysis and testimony in family law cases that involve parental alienation as well as criminal defense for good people caught in bad situations. We provide expert consultation in cross-examination, trial strategy, as well as in depth evaluation of case materials.
PsychLaw founder, Dr. Demosthenes Lorandos, is a licensed clinical and forensic psychologist and attorney who protects the rights of clients involved in complex, high-stakes legal battles. His work takes him across the nation, serving as an expert, case strategy consultant, attorney, lecturer, and author. Dr. Lorandos’s legal and scholarly work on the cross examination of experts, parental alienation, and false allegations has earned him national recognition. This credibility allows him access to resources that other experts might not have — all in the name of blending good science with law. Dr. Lorandos has been a peer reviewer for the journals of law and science. He has published a variety of peer-reviewed scientific papers as well as law review and law journal articles in the last four decades. He is a key author in science and evidence law for Thomson Reuters Westlaw®. He has five books in print and has written numerous chapters for forensic science and legal texts. He is regularly asked to teach forensic science and legal advocacy in the continuing education programs of law and the forensic sciences. Dr. Lorandos is the editor-in-chief of the three-volume set, The Litigators Handbook of Forensic Medicine, Psychiatry, and Psychology and his two-volume set, Cross Examining Experts in the Behavioral Sciences was published in 2000 and updated annually for twenty years. (Curriculum Vitae – Dr. Lorandos)
PsychLaw president Shawn Wygant serves as a custody evaluator, parental responsibilities evaluator trainer, case consultant, expert witness, and family therapist. He has been working with Dr. Lorandos for the past ten years on more than 450 complex domestic relations and criminal cases nationwide. Mr. Wygant specializes in the assessment of parental alienation and other complex forms of psychological child abuse in clinical and forensic settings. His expertise extends to forensic interviewing analysis with the recent publication of his chapter on the protocols used in child sexual abuse forensic interviews published by Thomson Reuters West (See Chapter 23 in The Litigators Handbook of Forensic Medicine, Psychiatry, and Psychology)
Family, Dependency, and Criminal courts across the country have come to trust PsychLaw experts to help them unpack complex science and law issues. They know when a PsychLaw expert provides testimony, it will be supported by empirical scientific research. (Curriculum Vitae – Shawn Wygant)
Making Things Right, One Case at a Time.
Call +1 (989) 335-5134 or Email swygant@psychlaw.net to schedule your free consultation.
PsychLaw works tirelessly to put the essential research on parental alienation and other vital areas of science into the hands of family law professionals, mental health workers, and targeted parents through these publications and more:
Parental Alienation — Science and Law
By Demosthenes Lorandos & William Bernet
Parental Alienation – Science and Law explains the research that creates the foundation for the assessment, identification, and intervention in cases of parental alienation (PA). For attorneys, judges, and family law professionals, this bo
ok explains in detail the scientific basis for testimony and legal decisions that relate to PA. There are two complementary features for most of the chapters. First, the chapter authors address how evidence regarding PA meets the criteria of the Frye, Daubert, and Mohan cases as well as the Federal Rules of Evidence for testimony by experts. The second feature is to refute common misinformation. There is debate and disagreement about some aspects of PA theory. The editors of this book are concerned that some of the discourse regarding PA has spun out of control, into pervasive misinformation. This book provides plenty of evidence for overcoming that hurdle.
The editors of this book, Demosthenes Lorandos and William Bernet, and the chapter authors have extensive experience with both clinical and legal aspects of divorce, child custody, parenting time evaluations, PA, and related topics. Editors and chapter authors include six psychologists, three physicians, two social workers, four attorneys, and one judge. Collectively, these mental health professionals have testified as expert witnesses hundreds of times regarding family law topics.
As an additional feature, the book contains four appendices and three indexes. Appendix A defines the concepts used in this book, so that the chapter authors and readers will use terminology in a consistent manner. Appendix B lists more than one thousand trial and appellate cases in the U.S. involving PA, organized by state. Appendix C presents twenty rather dramatic vignettes involving PA. Finally, Appendix D, “Sample Motion and Brief for Extended Voir Dire,” provides a motion and supporting brief asking the court to allow extended time to examine the competency of a proposed expert.
Allegations of Family Violence in Court: How Parental Alienation Affects Judicial Outcomes
Dr. Harman and Dr. Lorandos tested a set of findings reported by Meier et al. (2019) related to the use of parental alienation as a legal defense in cases in which there are allegations of domestic violence and child abuse. A total of 967 appellate reports in which PA was found or alleged were sequentially selected from a legal database search. Nineteen research assistants blind to the study’s hypotheses coded the reports for the variables used to test six preregistered hypotheses using a series of logistic and linear regression models. The authors failed to find any support for the conclusions made by Meier et al. Parents found (vs. alleged) to have alienated their children, regardless of their gender, had greater odds of losing parenting time, losing custody of their children, and losing their case. These findings held even when the accusing parent had been found to have been abusive. Losses or decreases in custody were not found when the (alleged) alienated parent was found to have been abusive. Results indicate that the majority of courts carefully weigh allegations of all forms of family violence in their determinations about the best interests of children. These findings, along with several others, raise concerns that the methodological, analytical, and statistical problems we detail about Meier’s report that make her conclusions untrustworthy. The discussion section of this article focuses on the importance of using open science practices for transparent and rigorous empirical testing of hypotheses and the dangers of misusing scientific findings to mislead influential professionals who affect the well-being of millions of families.
Gender Differences in the Use of Parental Alienating Behaviors
By Jennifer J. Harman, Demosthenes Lorandos, Zeynep Biringen & Caitlyn Grubb
Past research indicates females prefer the use of indirect over direct forms of aggression, whereas the opposite pattern has been found for males. We investigated a specific form of aggression: parental alienating behaviors. Parents who alienate their children from another parent utilize both direct and indirect forms of aggression. We examined whether there are gender differences in the use of these behaviors by analyzing data from two samples: interviews with parents who have been the target of parental alienating behaviors, and family law appellate court rulings in which parental alienation was found. In both studies, mothers used significantly more indirect than direct parental alienating strategies. In contrast, fathers tended to use similar levels of both indirect and direct parental alienating strategies. Further, fathers did not use more direct forms of this type of aggression than mothers. Better standards of practice for the assessment of parental alienation must be developed to prevent misdiagnoses and gender biases.
Parental Alienation in U.S., 1985 to 2018
By Demosthenes Lorandos
Courts have been dealing with alienating behaviors in high conflict family litigation for hundreds of years. Experts in the behavioral sciences have been writing about mothers and fathers manipulating their children to disparage the other parent for more than seventy years. But in the last two decades some social scientists and legal professionals have questioned the legitimacy of parental alienation as a concept and its admissibility in child abuse and child custody litigation. This study was designed to examine the extent to which courts in the United States have found the concept of parental alienation material, probative, relevant and admissible. Thirty-four years of cases were found with a WESTLAW query and analyzed. Cases were selected for study only if the record reflected that a judge or an independent expert found the concept of parental alienation to be of value in the litigation. Results illustrate increasing awareness of the concept and document its admissibility in every one of the United States. The numbers, sex of the alienating parent and prevalence of significant custody changes are discussed. Limitations inherent in this form of quantitative analysis are also discussed with recommendations for future research.
Making Things Right, One Case at a Time. Call us Today.
When you find yourself in deeply troubled waters and cannot find your way out, these are the experts you want on your side.
Call 989-335-5134 or Email Us to schedule a free consultation. We return all phone calls promptly.
