Family courts are tightening control of expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin says there is ‘no automatic right’ to call experts; attendance must be ‘necessary in the interests of justice’ under FPR Pt 25
In Re M and AX, appellate courts stressed fairness over labels of ‘rarity or exceptionality’, yet upheld refusals where new evidence was irregularly obtained or unlikely to affect outcome. Judges may limit cross-examination and insist on written questions.
The tension between expedition and fairness endures—but the decisive question remains whether, taken as a whole, the hearing is fair.
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