Expert witness: single or joint?

• Puts forward arguments for and against single joint experts.
• Sets out a comparison with experts appointed on behalf of each of the parties.
• Identifies procedural issues.

The use of Single Joint Experts (SJEs) is encouraged under the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) with the court considering inter alia whether instructing SJEs is likely to help it to resolve issues more speedily and in a more cost-effective way than with separately instructed experts. This article explores general considerations which lawyers should take into account when instructing SJEs with particular regard to the involvement of forensic accountants and compares the practical implications of using SJEs with those of using experts instructed separately by each of the parties.

Agreed methodology or differing assumptions?

The extent to which expert accountancy opinion can be agreed between the parties will vary according to the type of case. Our experience of pension loss cases, for example, is that they generally involve calculations of the claimant’s post-tax