How To Find An Expert
It is always important to find the right expert for your case. You will no doubt want an expert who is experienced and accredited in the role of an expert and who also possesses the necessary industrial experience to speak with authority about trade or professional practices and work methods. You would like your expert to be up to date and to have undergone regular training.
The partners at Collier Knight Watts are accredited experts and you will find them if you search in any of the recognised data bases of expert witnesses including the EWI, the Sweet & Maxwell register (Legal Hub), the UK register of Expert Witnesses and APIL to list but a few. These data bases all require proof of competence by submission of sample reports and the provision of references from solicitors or barristers.
It is also important to find an expert who can address the actual issues that are central to the case. In this regard it is often helpful to discuss a case with an expert to assist in the determination of the central issue. As an illustration we once received an enquiry to locate an expert in spoons. Further discussion revealed that the actual case involved an incident where a heavy container containing spoons was dropped from a fork lift truck onto a worker who sustained injury.
Whilst this example is slightly ‘tongue in cheek’ we have had similar types of enquiry, and it serves to illustrate the potential value of making an initial telephone call to our office.