Expert Witnesses - Can Their Credibility Be Restored?

Originally published 27th July 2005

The "Civil Justice Council Protocol for the Instruction of Experts to give Evidence in the Civil Courts" comes into force on 5 September 2005. It is hoped that by setting out comprehensively the duties that an expert witness owes to his client and more importantly to the court in a single protocol, it will counteract some of the damage caused to the profile of expert witnesses in recent months.

The discrediting of Professor Sir Roy Meadows' evidence in the Sally Clark trial has highlighted the need to emphasise to those appointed as expert witnesses and practitioners the need for complete impartiality and unbiased evidence. Professor Meadows, the paediatrician whose evidence had contributed to the wrongful conviction of Sally Clark for the murder of her two babies, was found to have given incorrect and misleading testimony following a disciplinary hearing of the General Medical Council. Although the GMC has acknowledged that Professor Meadows