Mark Solon speaks to the experts
Over a third of expert witnesses believe that the reforms proposed by Lord Justice Jackson in his 2010 report will lead to injustices according to Bond Solon’s latest expert witness survey.
Of the 320 expert witnesses who attended Bond Solon’s annual expert witness conference last month, 146 returned their views on the latest legal developments. These include the impact of the reforms on their fees and the number of instructions they receive, as well as the success of cost cutting initiatives such as concurrent evidence in court (or hot tubbing).
Fees
The Jackson reforms recommend a number of measures to curb the rising cost of litigation. However, asked whether cost management—a central tenet of the reforms under which the parties draft a budget for each stage of the proceedings—will lead to a cut in their fees, over a third of experts (36%) said no. Only 27% of experts believe the new provisions will lead to a reduction in their fees and 32% are still undecided. The remaining 5% did not answer.
Certainly to date, experts’ fees seem
