Lack of experts

The Litigation Futures website reports that experienced medical professionals who are still working and have up to date knowledge of practice and procedure are becoming increasingly reluctant to act as expert witnesses, according to leading barrister, Sally Howe’s QC. The biggest issue and most important criteria is whether experts are in current practice and warned that courts are increasingly having to rely on retired specialists, downloading reports from the internet. Add onto this that Expert witnesses now operate in a regulatory and legal environment. It is much more onerous than it was 10 years ago. Not only can any participant in the court case or indeed an outside observer refer an expert witness to the relevant professional regulator but litigators themselves can also sue their own expert for damages if they think the expert is being negligent. So there is a serious professional risk. This is why many experts have now closed their books or do not take on this type of work anymore especially the complex negligence work. Legalmex is a niche provider of dental expert witnesses and reports and all their experts are in current practice.