Mark Solon reviews the new costs regime for expert witnesses
Builders do it. Car mechanics do it. And now expert witnesses have to provide costs estimates, under the revised Civil Procedure Rules which came into effect in April following Lord Justice Jackson’s report into civil litigation costs.~
Experts comfortable with the old regime may be perplexed by the demands of estimating how much to budget for assessment, research, report-writing, travel, meetings, questions and court appearances. Meanwhile the court enjoys new powers to reduce fees deemed to be disproportionate. Is it worth being an expert witness?
Business time
Some committed experts are upbeat: they can run their operations more like a business—offering fixed and capped fees, for example—and cherry-pick the most profitable work. If they can help solicitors give a costs estimate and identify the key issues, they won’t be pricing themselves out of the market—they are more likely to be employed. Those appointed as a single joint expert, working on behalf of both sides, will be able to earn higher rates
Experts baulking at being asked for a ballpark figure should itemise every
