“Since April 1999, there have been 72 cases concerning expert evidence, but there is no guide as to how expert witnesses are meant to act,” says Brian Thompson, secretary of the Expert Witness Institute (EWI). “This is a live issue and its effects on the administration of justice are far reaching.”
Lord Woolf went some way to address the role of expert witnesses with the introduction of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR). In part 35, court procedures for experts and assessors are outlined in an attempt to provide guidance and, in turn, remedy some of the costs and delays that plague the litigation support industry.
