Kay Linnell shares a personal account of the road to becoming an expert witness… plus a few inside tips
After many years in professional practice—helping clients with their accounts, tax compliance, general planning and becoming involved in dispute resolution—I had the opportunity to use my industry expertise in a court case. Here, I learnt that my expert evidence was a rounded way to achieve a much better result and that being an expert witness is a very challenging and rewarding way to use one’s technical experience.
Based on that single experience, I decided that I could contribute to the furtherance of ‘better justice’ by becoming a professional expert witness. The difficulties or challenges in making such a transition fell into specific categories.
Playing by the rules
I needed to study and understand the requirements for persons holding themselves out to be expert witnesses. I started, initially, with the Civil Procedure Rules Pt 35 and PD 35 to better understand the key elements of expert testimony and report writing, including admissibility, contents, conduct and the overriding duty to the court or tribunal. I learnt
