Arkansas Society of Professional Surveyors
The Arkansas Society of Professional Surveyors (ASPS) is a non-profit association dedicated to serving the public interest and advancing the profession of surveying.
If you have renewed your membership, but the member rate is not showing, please log out then log back in.
Total Credits: 2 including 6.5 Professional Development Hours
The course is a fast-moving animated slide show and discussion presenting the processes of forensic surveying. Several remarkable forensic cases with unusual outcomes will be presented. The primary case concerns the boundary dispute between Rapides Parish and Grant Parish in Louisiana. The principles that are involved are applicable in Arkansas. The trial and subsequent litigation related to that dispute over a 15-year period comprise one of the most fascinating series of boundary dispute trials in United States history. There is no question that any surveyor who attends this seminar will be astonished with the outcome. Frank Willis was a leading expert in the entire trial series. The cases involve virtually every concept that could be expected in a boundary dispute—and with incredible legal tactics, spin, and gross misinterpretation by the lawyers and experts. The cases involve extreme twists regarding the Natural Hierarchy and surveying decisions for complex projects.
The seminar will cover the major parts of boundary litigation, including but not limited to the role of the expert, trickery and deceit, legal spin, evidence, misleading natural monuments, expert witness testimony, outright quackery, perjury, fraud, trial preparation, briefs, explanation of important concepts to attorneys and courts, appeals, Daubert motions, reputation of experts, corruption of good land surveying principles by engineers and geoscientists who do not understand principles of boundary law, and the effects of court rulings on future cases. If time permits and a volunteer is found, a simulated cross examination of the volunteer will be conducted to demonstrate the stress that an expert witness might endure under cross examination at a trial. The seminar is intended to provide a realistic view of what can happen at a trial, large or small. The court cases that will be presented are based upon Frank Willis’ personal experiences during his 40+ year career as an engineer, surveyor, and geoscientist. The cases have monetary values ranging from $50,000 to more than $100,000,000. The seminar is provocative and will generate a lot of discussion.
Frank Willis holds Bachelor of Science degrees in civil engineering and zoology from LSU, a Master of Engineering degree from the University of Wisconsin, and a PhD in Engineering and Applied Science from the University of New Orleans. He founded Willis Engineering and Surveying in 1981. Surveying was a large part of the company operations. Willis sold his firm to a national firm in 2004 and returned to college at 54 years of age to engage in extensive studies of the analyses of natural monuments and their misinterpretations as related to surveying. Since 2004, Willis has concentrated in the fields of forensic surveying and forensic engineering. He taught engineering and surveying in the LSU system for four years. He lectures nationally about the subject of forensic engineering and surveying, remote sensing, and photogrammetry. His lectures concentrate on issues relevant to each locale that he lectures.
| 5 |
|
| 4 |
|
| 3 |
|
| 2 |
|
| 1 |
|
