Lord Phillips calls for expert witness groups to merge
The two main expert witness organisations should amalgamate and bury differences over a proposed code of guidance, the Master of the Rolls said last week.At the Bond Solon expert witness conference, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers said he did not regard amalgamation as too ambitious, adding: 'I think it is very unfortunate that you have two bodies [The Academy of Experts and the Expert Witness Institute] which are to some degree competing rather than co-operating.'A working party published the draft code of guidance three years ago to give guidance on expert evidence in the light of the Civil Procedure Rules.
The working party was chaired by Sir Louis Blom-Cooper QC, chairman of the Expert Witness Institute, and included members of the Academy of Experts, but the academy subsequently produced a rival code.A subsequent review of the two codes by appeal court judge Sir Anthony Evans has now finished and Lord Phillips has allowed a short period for all parties to comment.He said he intended to publish a final code during this judicial term.Jeremy Fleming
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