Dear Colleagues I have been asked to provide an expert witness report for a client, which is something i have not undertaken before, unfortunately this has to be in within 28 days and the only reputable training i have found in this is with Bond Solon and thats not until September after the time limit. i would appreciate any help anyone may be able to offer re the format /layout of an expert witness report. Many thanks Mark Elliott CMIOSH

Mark, Messy is absolutely right, if the case does get to court then you can expect your character, both personal and professional, to be absolutely assassinated. For example whatever you have on facebook will be used against you. Carry out a google search on yourself and see what comes up. Any report you produce will have to be meticulous, even minor spelling mistakes will be ridiculed. Whatever you put in your report must be accurate, you must be able to reference everything, your report must not contain anything but fact, you cannot express any opinions beyond your remit. You can only give your professional opinion within the boundaries you have been given and you must be able to support your opinion. Your duty is to the court and not to those engaging you. The person engaging you should give you a full brief. You should be familiar with the court protocols such as CPR 35. Remember that most cases won't get to court, they are often settled on the steps of the court. I do have some information on expert witnesses, if you email me I can send you some useful material.

Mark, I recently acted as an "Expert Witness" for my organisation in a "Trial of Issue" at the Crown Court regarding a fatality. The Prosecution called their own experts, including specialist HSE Inspectors & as previously recalled, their Barrister had me on the stand for over an hour, continually backtracking to see if I would change my opinion, & yes, calling into question my professional competence - the experience left me physically & mentally drained. Your client's solicitors will be able to let you have a copy of how the written evidence should be presented & I also had my original reports marked as "draft" - but if I am perfectly honest, I did not realise the significance of this until the Prosecution quizzed me on it & why certain information was "missing" - my response was that it was still in draft form & therefore not yet complete! Going on a course is all well & good, but it cannot replicate the pressure that you will be under & you MUST know your subject from A-Z, if you don't, then decline to take part. As a quick aside, our QC made a big deal of me being a member of IOSH!

Bond Solon have written a helpful book "The expert witness in court", (pub. Shaw & Sons) which has lots of helpful info and, I presume, covers much of the training course. One thing you need to be very aware of is that the prime duty of any Expert Witness is to the court, rather than the party who pays them. You need to read and fully take on board the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) Part 35 - it's easy to find via Google.

Mark If I had read the observations posted above rather than attend training at the Academy of Experts, I would have found service as an expert witness a much more difficult experience than it was. As, I've found that barristers can be more aggressive on paper than in person, it's essential to remember that, in offering your opinion to the court (i.e. the panel of judges), you ground what you say on verifiable evidence rather than your beliefs or values. Where it's relevant and you know the details of relevant laws and regs, you can illustrate your opinion with an example of your experience, Just like Counsel for both sides, you are free to refer to documents rather than overload your memory. Subject to these two observation 1. As Ian Waldram said, familiarise yourself thoroughly with the Civil Procedure Rules, even by saying 'I don't know because....' 2. Know what you are talking about serving as an expert witness can be a great opportunity to learn. If you are cross-examined publicly, you may well find that you notice aspects of a court report that you couldn't right now. In my experience, even though you may not perfrom perfectly (as I haven't), delivery expert testimony can also be encouraging: in the formal court report of a case where I was cross-examined, I was surprised to read how complimentary the panel of judges were about me: 'Mr. D's expertise was self-evident. Where we had to choose between him and Ms. X, we chose his opinion....'

Mark There are people who do this professionally - I would suggest you ask who ever has asked you to do this to look at obtaining one of them (- and depending on the discipline - there will for sure be lists - if not ask here or contact IOSH) for ALL the reasons that have been mentioned. Seen cases where as others have said 'experts' have been taken apart by clever lawyers. Would echo what has been said and leave it to those who enjoy that sort of thing!