‘DIY': Experts Must Write Their Own Reports

Recently, I received a report from an engineering expert, which was poorly written: bad grammar and organization, unnecessarily long, and missing several pivotal issues relating to liability. I was familiar with this expert's work, and was convinced that he had not written the report himself, and likely had not even reviewed it. So, I asked him. He assured me that he had written it. Shortly thereafter, the expert rendered his invoice, which demonstrated that a junior engineer had done almost all of the work, and my expert relatively little (he must have overlooked the fact that I might actually read the invoice). The expert eventually confessed. He was of the view, however, that, given his seniority, it was unreasonable of me to expect that he would have drafted the report himself. He then explained that the report was so poor because his junior engineer, who does not have a good command of English, had written it. He assured me, however, that I needn't worry because