Is baldness a disease? Is baldness a disease?

Is baldness a disease?

Mr Simon Britten, immediate past chair of the British Orthopaedic Association Medico-legal Committee, in his foreword to the forthcoming Expert...
Ivan Norman v N & CJ Horton Property (a firm) [2024] EWHC 2994 (Ch) Ivan Norman v N & CJ Horton Property (a firm) [2024] EWHC 2994 (Ch)

Ivan Norman v N & CJ Horton Property (a firm) [2024] EWHC 2994 (Ch)

The judge determined that the proposed expert evidence, to support the existence of a money laundering scheme, was not admissible and, even if...
Navigating the excessive difference in valuations from  two Expert Quantity Surveyors Navigating the excessive difference in valuations from two Expert Quantity Surveyors

Navigating the excessive difference in valuations from two Expert Quantity Surveyors

The complexities of this case required both parties to engage expert quantity surveyors.  Both sides approached their instructions to their...
Postponement of the Extended Fixed Recoverable Costs Stocktake and Uprating of Fixed Cost... Postponement of the Extended Fixed Recoverable Costs Stocktake and Uprating of Fixed Cost...

Postponement of the Extended Fixed Recoverable Costs Stocktake and Uprating of Fixed Cost...

The Civil Procedure Rule Committee (‘Committee) decided, provisionally, to postpone the extended Fixed Recoverable Cost (‘FRC’)...
Family Procedure Rules Consultation concerning the instruction of unregulated experts in... Family Procedure Rules Consultation concerning the instruction of unregulated experts in...

Family Procedure Rules Consultation concerning the instruction of unregulated experts in...

In recent years a range of stakeholders have raised concerns regarding unregulated experts providing evidence in family law court cases and the...
EWI guidance for experts approached by unscrupulous expert witness agencies EWI guidance for experts approached by unscrupulous expert witness agencies

EWI guidance for experts approached by unscrupulous expert witness agencies

While there are many respectable and legitimate expert witness agencies who provide brilliant support to the expert witnesses who work with them,...
A Day in the Life of an Aerial Imagery Expert A Day in the Life of an Aerial Imagery Expert

A Day in the Life of an Aerial Imagery Expert

Chris Cox is a professional heritage consultant, specialist interpreter of aerial imagery and Lidar data, and an Expert Witness. She is the...
Podcast Episode 10: Equal Representation for Expert Witnesses Podcast Episode 10: Equal Representation for Expert Witnesses

Podcast Episode 10: Equal Representation for Expert Witnesses

In Episode 10 of the Expert Matters Podcast we celebrate International Women's Day. Women are appointed or testify in only 9% of disputes...
A Day in the Life of an Accountancy Expert Witness A Day in the Life of an Accountancy Expert Witness

A Day in the Life of an Accountancy Expert Witness

Heather Rogers is an accountant, tax practitioner and Expert Witness. Most of her cases involve director disputes or professional negligence where...
Podcast Episode 9: Becoming an Expert Witness Podcast Episode 9: Becoming an Expert Witness

Podcast Episode 9: Becoming an Expert Witness

In the 9th episode of the Expert Matters Podcast, we look at how to become an Expert Witnesss. If you think expert witness work might be for you,...
A Day in the Life of an Emergency Medicine Expert Witness A Day in the Life of an Emergency Medicine Expert Witness

A Day in the Life of an Emergency Medicine Expert Witness

Colin Holburn is an EWI fellow, governor and founding member. A consultant in accident and emergency medicine, he has been practising as an Expert...
Podcast Episode 8: Re-evaluating your opinion Podcast Episode 8: Re-evaluating your opinion

Podcast Episode 8: Re-evaluating your opinion

In the 8th episode of the Expert Matters Podcast, we discuss re-evaluating your opinion. We look at possible reasons why you might wish to re-evaluate...

Check out our Case Updates and Member Magazine

Looking for more news relevant to the Expert Witness community? Why not check out our database of cases relevant to Expert Evidence or the latest and previous editions of our member magazine, Expert Matters.

News

Clicking on one of the topics below will display news items relevant to that topic. You can also use the search bar below to identify news items.

The modern expert: personal insights and current issues
Wiebke Morgan 3260

The modern expert: personal insights and current issues

byWiebke Morgan

In his talk, Lord Hamblen initially summarised his professional background and the various kinds of expert evidence which he had encountered, both as a barrister and as a judge. He further explained how he used to work with experts as a barrister, what he had found particularly useful in terms of expert assistance, and how he would seek best to deploy that assistance. In discussing his experience as a judge, he offered suggestions as to how an expert can best assist judges, including some key ‘do's and don'ts’ based on his general experience. Finally, he addressed current issues relating to expert evidence as flagged up in recent case law.

 

Over his career, Lord Hamblen has encountered a great variety of different areas of expertise and experts.

 

From 1982 to 2008 he practiced at the commercial bar, and one of the leading London commercial sets of chambers, 3 Essex court, later 20 Essex. His main areas of specialism were shipping, international trade, commodities, insurance and reinsurance. Shipping in particular, involved dealing with a wide range of different areas of expertise. And most cases of any length would involve expert evidence. Ranging from engineering experts to expert mariners, and including chemists, physicists, fire experts, metallic jurists, naval architects, cargo surveyors, ship surveyors, agronomists, oil experts, Weather experts, and more.

 

After joining the High Court bench in 2008, Lord Hamblen sat regularly in the commercial court, where again, much business-related evidence would be heard. He also sat in crime, most often in murder cases, where one would have various types of forensic evidence from pathologists, medical examiners and experts in for example, blood splatter, gunshot residue, DNA, fingerprinting, and so on. Lord Hamblen also sat in the Queen's bench division, hearing general civil cases, including personal injury and clinical negligence cases.

 

In terms of working with experts as a barrister, Lord Hamblen stated that the key issue was understanding. In order to be able to think on their feet in cross examining an expert a barrister needed to be able to think like an expert.

Lord Hamblen’s other key “Do's” were:

  • Clarity
  • Structure
  • Reasoning
  • Building trust and confidence

 

His absolute number one “Don't” was to ensure that the expert is avoiding anything which might compromise their independence and impartiality. A second and related “Don't” was to avoid being an advocate. It is counsel's job to argue the case. That is not the role of the expert. Lord Hamblen’s advice to experts was to “Make points, explain points, but do not argue them.”

 

The third, and again related “Don’t”, according to Lord Hamblen was: “Know the limits of your expertise”.

 

Lord Hamblen then proceeded to illustrate the importance of all these “Don'ts” by selecting several recent cases regarding the proper approach to expert evidence. Despite the basic rules regarding expert evidence being well known, and the applicable principles changing little in recent times, Lord Hamblen noted that there has been a notable recent uptick in cases expressing concerns about inadequate expert evidence. He lamented the fact that recent case law suggests that the principles set out in the ‘Ikarian Reefer’ (now summarised in CPR 35) are frequently not being adhered to. The principles are being duly recited, but not acted upon.

 

Lord Hamblen referred to the Hon Justice Fraser’s list of points to be considered by experts and those instructing (made in the ICC case).

 

Finally, he discussed current case law under the headings of:

  • Partiality
  • Relevant expertise
  • Conflicts of interest
  • Failure to comply with expert duties

and highlighted recent cases with relevant quotes from the judgements.

 

Lord Hamblen concluded that he hoped that the personal insights he had provided and the summary of recent case law would be a helpful basis for thought and discussion at the conference. And that it would provide some guidance to those in the important role that they perform as experts. He pointed out that more and more cases seem to involve experts of one kind or another and that they play a very important role in dispute resolution, whether that be through settlement, mediation, arbitration, or litigation.

 

Share

Print
Comments are only visible to subscribers.