- Covers caselaw illustrating disastrous examples where solicitors have ignored the independence of experts.
It is always frustrating when expert witness independence has to be called into question. Just when you think you’ve seen the worst transgression, another two come along.
Surely everyone knows that experts must not act as ‘hired guns’? Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) Part 35 makes clear that an expert’s first duty is to the court, and this overrides any obligation to those who instruct or pay the expert.
Where the court directs discussions to take place between experts, neither the parties nor their legal representatives may attend, unless this has been ordered by the court or agreed by all parties and the experts. In the course of discussions, experts must give their own opinions to assist the court, and do not require the authority of the parties to sign a joint statement. The report must reflect the expert’s own opinion, and it should not be influenced by the instructing party. Neither should experts
