Working together makes the expert/instructing solicitor relationship stronger, as James Stanbury explains
In any expert process, there are various key stages for an expert, but I want to focus on just four: selection, instruction, reports and meetings.
Selection
There is a continuing debate over the type of expert that should be used on a case. For an instructing solicitor, it is clearly important to choose the right expert, who has experience relevant to the case. The question arises, in some cases, whether it is better to appoint an industry expert or a “professional” expert. It can and does happen in my field of forensic accounting. Take, for example, a claim for loss of profit from a fire or flood at a hotel: should a hotel expert, who has worked in the industry, be appointed or a professional accounting expert who has experience of dealing with economic damages claims from hotels over many years?
Of course, expert requirements turn on the facts of a case and the balance of choice can be difficult and opens up the question of ‘what makes someone an expert?’ If industry experts
