Experts and peer review arrangements
The parties' respective experts had arranged to have a joint
discussion. It subsequently became apparent to the Defendant's
expert (when an email was sent to him in error) that the
Claimant's expert had been seeking advice from one of her
colleagues about certain points in the experts' joint
statement. An issue then arose as to whether the discussions
between the expert and her colleague were privileged.
The Claimant's expert had informed the court that her firm
had a peer supervision arrangement in place. The judge considered
that if it was becoming commonplace for there to be undisclosed
arrangements in relation to "supervision" in the
preparation of expert evidence (and, in particular, supervision
which may alter the content of the report) that was "a very
worrying development". He highlighted the importance of
disclosing to the court and the other side if the expert's
evidence has been "bolstered or added to" by a
