ARTICLE · 03 NOVEMBER 2016

Federal Court Practice Note for Expert Witnesses: joint expert conferences and concurrent evidence

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The new Practice Note includes extensive provisions on joint expert conferences and reports; and on concurrent evidence.

AustraliaLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration

Magda Di Vincenzo

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On Tuesday, the Federal Court of Australia revoked and replaced all of its Practice Notes with immediate effect. Of particular interest to us is the new Expert Evidence Practice Note (GPN-EXPT) and its annexures: the Harmonised Expert Witness Code of Conduct (Annexure A) and Concurrent Expert Evidence Guidelines (Annexure B).

Much is unchanged: for example, most of the required contents of an Expert's Report. But the new Practice Note includes extensive provisions on joint expert conferences and reports; and on concurrent evidence. We welcome this new guidance.

The Federal Court is not the first national tribunal to deal with these issues in a guideline: the AAT issued one last year. But the Court's new guidelines are significant, and it will be interesting to see whether State jurisdictions will follow.

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