Social Work Podcast: Interview With Allan Barsky on Social Workers in Court

Click the arrow on the player above to listen. Jonathan Singer of the Social Work Podcast interviewed social work ethics and legal expert Allan Barsky (The New Social Worker's ethics columnist) about social workers in court. Jonathan sums up this epidsode as follows:

In today’s interview, Allan and I talked about what it means for a social worker to be “court ready,” especially for social workers whose jobs do not typically involve going to court. We talked about the difference between forensic social workers and social workers who have to appear in court. Allan talked about the difference between client confidentiality and client privilege, between being a witness and an expert witness, and between preparing for legal proceedings and disciplinary proceedings. He gave some pointers on how social workers should respond to a subpoena. I asked him about what for many clinicians is the most stressful part of going to court - examination and cross-examination. We talked about how social workers can prepare for it, including some strategies for dealing with “tough questions” during a cross-examination. We ended our conversation with Allan providing some resources for social workers who want to know more

See a full transcript of this episode here.

Read an excerpt from Allan Barsky's book, Clinicians in Court.