Does expert witness training meet the needs of expert witnesses or the needs of the training providers, Penny Cooper asks
The case that launched a thousand seminars is National Justice Cia Naviera SA v Prudential Assurance Co Ltd, The Ikarian Reefer [1993] 2 Lloyds Rep 68, [1993] FSR 563. All expert witnesses need to know what it says. Thankfully, most practising expert witnesses know that The Ikarian Reefer sets out the duties of the expert witness. But apart from seminars about what experts’ duties are, there is a mass of training on offer that claims to be essential without anyone being sure that it meets the needs of expert witnesses.
In January 2007 I was awarded funding by City University to ask experts, their professional bodies, lawyers and judges for their views on expert witness training past, present and future. The completed questionnaires have just started fluttering into my in-tray, but it is already clear that experts are keen to make their views known about what is on offer.
Not enough expert teachers
It is hardly surprising that most training is delivered
