A second Code of Guidance on expert evidence was published in December 2001, designed to assist lawyers and expert witnesses instructed in relation to litigation. This Code was published by a Working Party set up by the Head of Civil Justice and approved by the Expert Witness Institute. It was pre-empted by a rival Code published by the Academy of Experts in 1999. There are now two competing Codes which causes some confusion, rather than comfort, to experts and lawyers whom they were intended to assist.
One of Lord Woolf’s concerns in his review of Access to Justice was the delay and expense caused by expert witness evidence. Part 35 of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) seeks to address this by restricting expert evidence, encouraging the use of single joint experts, and introducing measures designed to narrow the issues remaining at trial. Part 35 also provides rules in relation to how experts are to be instructed, the key elements that should be contained in their reports and other
