Back to Work: Expert Witness CPR Part 19 Report

I'm expecting an expert report for comment today in the criminal prosecution in which I am acting as an expert witness. I'd say the report was from the other side, but there is no other side when you are an expert witness. Neither am I on the side of the people paying me, I am on the side of the court, just as the author of the report I am about to receive should be.

I would however caveat that. In being independent / on the side of the court, I am acting in the interests of those instructing me, to the extent that my report informs the legal team of the technical merits and underpinning of their case. An accurate report should help to prevent the kind of irrational exuberance which might cause a party to spend a lot of money pursing a case without technical merit.

I'm hoping the fact that this is a criminal prosecution involving large entities means that the kind of inexpert "expert" I come across all too often has not been engaged. Perversely, unpicking and correcting an inexpert report, and attempting a meeting of experts with a non-expert are far more time-consuming and expensive than an interaction between genuine experts. I was involved in a previous case where the appointment of someone with no technical knowledge who replied to technical questions with personal abuse appears to have been a deliberate strategy intended to run up the other party's costs.