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Imposters & confidence tricksters

13 June 2019 / Mark Solon
Issue: 7844 / Categories: Features , Profession , Expert Witness
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Mark Solon sizes up the risks of making false statements: go directly to jail, do not pass go, & do not collect £350,000

Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith’s recent decision to close the trial of eight men accused of a £7m carbon credit investment fraud after discovering that expert witness Andrew Ager had no relevant qualifications and had used recycled his witness statements made me choke on my breakfast eggs.

The judge said: ‘Andrew Ager is not an expert of suitable calibre. He had little or no understanding of the duties of an expert. He had received no training and attended no courses. He has no academic qualifications.’ Sadly, he is not alone in the camp of ‘naughty’ experts.

A bundle of mistakes

An expert witness who makes a false statement in a report, without genuinely believing it to be true, can expect the court to commit them to prison for contempt. In Liverpool Victoria Insurance Co Ltd v Zafar [2019] EWCA Civ 392, [2019] All ER (D) 20 (Apr), the Court of Appeal

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NEWS
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Rylatt and Robyn Laye of Anthony Gold Solicitors examine recent international relocation cases where allegations of domestic abuse shaped outcomes
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