header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us
16 October 2015 / Alec Samuels
Issue: 7672 / Categories: Features , Profession
printer mail-detail

In it together?

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.

Alec Samuels examines the ins & outs of hot-tubbing

“Hot-tubbing” is the idiomatic or picturesque phrase for experts giving their evidence concurrently, ie both together in the witness box. The practice is still very uncommon in England, very rare in medical cases, but beginning to be used in engineering and construction disputes in arbitration and in the Technical and Construction Court, and even in the Family Court.

Procedure

There are so far no specific rules governing the procedure. Clearly the factual basis of the case needs to be set out first. Each side could call their principal lay witness, to be examined, cross-examined and re-examined. Or, more in accordance with modern practice, the written statements could be put in, so as in effect to set the scene. The respective experts would then be taken together.

The judge will question the experts, taking topic by topic, putting the same question to each expert in turn. At the end of the questioning on each topic the judge will invite the respective advocates to further question the experts, a sort

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Partner joinscorporate and finance practice in British Virgin Islands

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Firm strengthens children department with adoption and surrogacy expert

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Media and technology expert joins employment team as partner in Cambridge

NEWS
Read All
NLJ this week: Divorce ‘nuclear weapon’ freezes assets but entangles outsiders
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
NLJ this week: What counts as ‘rent’? Court says labour alone won’t do
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Your magistrates’ court needs you!
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
NLJ this week: Freed but failed—justice system leaves the innocent empty-handed
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
NLJ this week: Clarity on whistleblowing, settlements and tribunal limits
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll