Demise of the single joint expert?

Expert witnesses are wary of, or may even shun, joint instruction work due to concerns that “disgruntled” parties may sue, this year’s UK Register of Expert Witnesses Survey has revealed.

The number of single joint experts (SJEs)—those who are instructed jointly by all of the parties—rose in number around the Millennium as a result of the Woolf reforms but have since tailed away. Now only 57% of experts have been SJEs, compared to 73% in 2011, and on average they receive eight SJE instructions per year, less than half the average in 2009.

Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Chris Pamplin, editor of the UK Register, says: “Since the removal of expert witness immunity in January 2011, the role of the SJE has become even more fraught.

“Working for both parties in a dispute may well lead to a disgruntled instructing party, and that party can sue the instructed expert! Indeed, we have heard from experts – even those who until now have been very supportive of the SJE approach – who say that they will no longer undertake such instructions… the decline in SJE instructions is beginning to look more like a trend than a blip.” 

Medical experts typically charge £207 per hour for reports and £1,554 for a court appearance, while engineering professions charge £145 and £1,112. 

However, experts showed a cavalier approach to the terms of their engagement—while 88% of experts say they stipulate terms, only 52% use a written contract.