Affidavit of Merit, Net Opinion Rule, and Learned Treatise Use
Date: Jun 24, 2025 9:00 a.m. – 12:35 p.m.
Location: Online
Member Price: $187.00
Non-Member Price: $234.00
Section Price: $0.00
Areas of Law: Civil, Medical Malpractice
Earn up to 4 credits! (More Information)
Keynote
Moderator
- Jonathan H. Lomurro, Esq., LLM
- Certified By the Supreme Court of New Jersey As a Civil Trial Attorney
Lomurro Munson, LLC
Presenters
- Hon. James P. Savio, J.S.C. (Ret.)
- Savio Mediationsis a part-time mediator/arbitrator in Margate, New Jersey, and retired as a Judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Civil Part, Vicinage 1, Atlantic and Cape May Counties, in 2022. He sat in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He has also served in the Chancery Division, Family Part, in Atlantic County, and as a municipal court judge in Margate City and several other Atlantic County municipalities.
Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Savio was in private practice in Margate and Atlantic City, Managing Partner of Savio Reynolds & Drake and Gormley & Savio in Absecon, and an associate with Lloyd, Megargee, Steedle & Connor in Egg Harbor Township. He was a member of the Atlantic County Bar Association, where he served as Chair of the Judicial & Prosecutorial Selection and Appointment Committee and as a Trustee. He has lectured for ICLE, bar associations and the New Jersey Defense Association and has been a Barrister of the Vincent S. Haneman American Inn of Court.
Judge Savio received his B.A. from Seton Hall University and his J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law.
(8/23) - Patricia M. Giordano, Esq.
- Feldman Shepherd Wohlgelernter Tanner Weinstock Dodig LLP, Cherry Hill
- John M. Hockin, Jr., Esq.
- Ronan, Tuzzio & Giannone, Tinton Falls
- Francisco J. Rodriguez, Esq.
- Certified By the Supreme Court of New Jersey As a Civil Trial Attorney
Javerbaum Wurgaft Hicks Kahn Wikstrom & Sinins, PC - Christina Vassiliou Harvey, Esq.
- Lomurro Munson, LLC, Freeholdis a Partner in Lomurro, Munson, Comer, Brown & Schottland, LLC (Lomurro Law) in Freehold, New Jersey. She focuses her practice in appellate matters, personal injury litigation, disability matters, attorney ethics and horseracing law, and has experience litigating personal injury case for both the plaintiff and defense sides, medical malpractice cases for plaintiffs, commercial disputes, and prosecuting and defending insurance brokers and attorneys in claims of professional negligence.
Ms. Harvey is admitted to practice in the state and federal courts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania at the trial and appellate levels, and before administrative agencies. A former Trustee of the New Jersey State Bar Association, she has been a member of the New Jersey Law Journal’s Young Lawyer Advisory Board and is Past Chair of the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division. Having served as President of the Mercer County Women Lawyers Caucus, she is a founding board member of the Community Justice Center, a non-profit organization that assists disabled veterans in obtaining disability benefits.
Ms. Harvey has authored articles for the New Jersey Lawyer newspaper, NJ Esq., The Affiliate, The Young Lawyer and the New Jersey State Bar Association Young Lawyers Division Newsletter. She has lectured for ICLE on professional responsibility as part of the Skills and Methods course and for the NJSBA and other organizations on ethics, collections and client relations. She has received three "Star of the Quarter" awards and one “Star of the Year” award for her work in the American Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division and was the recipient of the Service to the Bar Award in 2009 and the Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year Award in 2013 from the NJSBA-Young Lawyers Division.
Ms. Harvey received her B.A. from Douglass College, Rutgers University. She was a contract specialist for the United States Navy before attending Rutgers University School of Law and receiving her J.D. She served as a law clerk to the Honorable Dorothea O’C. Wefing, Presiding Judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division.
Come to this exciting seminar focused on the use of experts in civil trials! Gain a true understanding of the purpose of the affidavit of merit, the net opinion rule, and learned treatise use. A panel of seasoned civil trial attorneys and a civil court judge will guide you through the elements and issues that may arise during the use of expert testimony. Discover the requirements of the affidavit of merit rule, including the type of information needed and who is qualified to provide this legal requirement. Gain knowledge about the net opinion Rule to become proficient in distinguishing between speculation and acceptable expert testimony. Explore the qualifications for learned treatise use together with its challenges and issues. Listen as a distinguished Superior Court judge provides a judicial perspective on expert issues. Regardless of your area of practice, you will leave this program knowing how to prepare for expert testimony!
Program Agenda:
- 9:00 | Welcome
- 9:05 | Affidavit of Merit - Christina Vassiliou Harvey, Esq. and M. Hockin, Jr., Esq.
- 10:00 | Net Opinion Rule - Francisco J. Rodriguez, Esq.
- 10:45 | Break
- 10:55 | Learned Treatise Use - Patricia M. Giordano, Esq.
- 11:40 | Judicial Perspective - Hon. James P. Savio, J.S.C. (Ret.)
- 12:30 | Final comments and program wrap-up
- 12:35 | Adjourn
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