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Guidance from Judges to Experts on Joint Statements.
- Nov 10, 2021
- Latest News
The Academy's Judicial Committee has produced welcome Guidance on Joint Statements. This Guidance is intended primarily to apply to adversarial Common Law Civil Litigation. Other proceedings for example in the Family Courts or in Public Inquiries, may have different requirements although the principles may be of assistance.
The Guidance was formally launched at the Academy's annual Dinner at Pewterers' Hall on 3rd November when Lord Saville was succeeded as President of The Academy of Experts by The Rt Hon Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury.
Also in attendance at the dinner were:
The Rt Hon the Lord Burnett of Maldon – Lord Chief Justice
The Rt Hon Lord Carloway – Lord President, Court of Session
Caroline Pope – Chairman, TecSA
Derek Sweeting QC – Chairman, Bar Council
Sir Geoffrey Vos – Master of the Rolls
In Civil Litigation one of the most valuable tools for the parties and especially the courts is the Joint Statement of Experts which results from the Meeting of Experts. These Meetings, usually court ordered, go under a variety of different labels – Meetings; Conferences; Conclaves; Discussions and others – however in essence they are all Meetings of Experts. For ease of multi-jurisdictional reading they are referred to in this Guidance as ‘Meetings’. Similarly the words Claimant and Defendant are used irrespective of jurisdictional labels such as Claimant, Pursuer and Respondent.
The purpose of these Meetings is to produce a Joint Statement showing the Expert issues they agree and those which they do not agree and the reasons they cannot agree. Although most Meetings in Common Law jurisdictions are ‘Without Prejudice’, the Joint Statement once signed by the Experts is an ‘Open’ document which will be for the benefit of the Court as well as the parties.
Meetings are intended to be ‘technical’ meetings of professionals of like discipline and not adversarial or partisan. The rules governing Meetings and Joint Statements are very similar in most of the jurisdictions. Although this Guidance is focussed on Court Ordered Meetings, it is likely to be applicable to Tribunal or Arbitrator directed Meetings.
The members of the committee involved in the project included:
The Rt Hon The Lord Saville of Newdigate
President of The Academy of Experts (2006-2021)
Chairman of the Committee
The Rt Hon The Lord Reed of Allermuir
Supreme Court United Kingdom
Sir Rupert Jackson - Arbitrator
The Rt Hon Lady Smith
Court of Session - Scotland
The Hon Mr Justice Horner
High Court - Northern Ireland
The Hon Mr Justice Harris
High Court - Hong Kong
The Hon Justice Quentin Loh
Supreme Court of Singapore
The Rt Hon Lord Justice Dingemans
Court of Appeal - London
The Hon Mrs Justice O’Farrell DBE
High Court - TCC - London
Sir Vivian Ramsey
Singapore International Commercial Court
The Hon Mr Justice Williams
High Court - London
The Academy of Experts (TAE)
www.academyofexperts.org