The new head of civil justice this week expressed concerns over the independence of expert witnesses under the current adversarial system.

The Master of the Rolls, Lord Justice Clarke, told delegates at the Institute of Expert Witnesses annual conference last week that it was 'inevitable' that experts' opinions will sometimes be swayed by the interests of the party that instructs them.


He said: 'I have listened to many experts giving evidence, and there have been times when I have wondered what they would have said if they had been instructed by the other side instead.


'It seems to me that there is at least a risk that a person who is asked to an express an opinion by a party to litigation, however much they try to be entirely objective, will tend to [bend] their opinion in the interest of the client, at least in the grey areas - which appear in almost every case. It is inevitable - it is human nature.'


He added: 'I sometimes wonder if experts should be asked to give their opinion first, before they are told which side has instructed them - although I appreciate that that would not work in practice. I wonder whether the adversarial process is the best way of putting expert evidence before the courts.'


Lord Justice Clarke added that he could see the benefit of a system where experts for each party discussed issues in court at the start of the case, to cut out much of the cross-examination that takes place.