In a groundbreaking initiative, the Expert Witness Institute is attempting to build a national map of expert witnesses by establishing which courts they work in and their level of expertise.

Early research commissioned by the not-for-profit organisation revealed that around 9,000 people in the UK undertake expert witness work regularly and 24,000 do so occasionally.

At present, there is no national profile of expert witnesses and no regulator or other organisation collates such information. The institute, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, has decided to fill the gap. It is hoped the mapping will provide valuable data to help the institute lobby the government and judiciary, as well as to develop targeted services and relevant policies.

The EWI sought to collect data with help from market research firm White Space. A project examined court and case data, and spoke to lawyers and the judiciary, as well as insurers, to understand how often cases in different jurisdictions were likely to use expert witnesses.

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The population of witnesses is ‘flexible’, EWI chief executive Simon Berney-Edwards said, as some experts may have retired or chosen only to work once. ‘This is the first time we have got a sense of roughly how many people are out there,’ he said. ‘There is not a list because there is no regulation, there is not one place you can go to find who they are, or how many there are.’ 

Berney-Edwards said: ‘We are seeing more people coming to us and having data like this enables us to advocate more effectively with the judiciary and the Ministry of Justice and [helps us] make sure we have the right service in place.’

The data collected through the mapping survey will also allow the organisation to support members and non-members, he added, and provide training to ensure expert witnesses were able to help the courts effectively.

The mapping survey is expected to run until mid-July. To take part in the survey, click here.