Chris Makin’s Recent Blog Posts
RIP Michael Cohen
I recently attended the funeral of a man you have probably never heard of, but who was of enormous importance to all you litigators, whether civil & commercial, family, criminal or ADR. After several years as a boring old chartered accountant – annual accounts, audits, tax returns, business plans, I was asked to act as […]
Mediation: Have The Floodgates Finally Opened?
On 29 November the Court of Appeal gave its judgment in the long-anticipated case of Churchill -v- Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council [2023] EWCA Civ 1416. It started life as a simple dispute between an individual and a council over Japanese knotweed but assumed such importance that there were no fewer than seven bodies admitted […]
When Your Expert Costs You Money!
You kind readers of this journal, or of the blog page on my website, will have noticed that I go on and on (and on and on…) about incompetent or even dishonest expert witnesses. It is over 12 years now since the expert’s immunity from suit was removed – see Jones -v- Kaney [2011] UKSC […]
Statement Of Truth? Forget It!
Those of you (thank you!) who have had the patience and loyalty to read some of my past articles will be aware that I am quite scathing about the performance of some expert witnesses. In some cases it’s merely incompetence, but with others it’s more serious. Looking at the incompetents first, we have such inept […]
Family Inheritance Mediation
I want to talk today about a particularly difficult problem which mediators are asked to address, namely disputes over family inheritance. The reason they are so difficult is that it’s seldom about the money, or at least about money alone. Underlying many of these disputes are long-held resentments, questions of self-worth, fairness, and questions of […]
Back To Basics – When And How To Use Your Expert
What follows should be familiar to all solicitors engaged in contentious work, but it does no harm to remind ourselves of the basics. How can I, a humble chartered accountant, feel able to propound on such matters? Because I have practised for over 30 years as an expert witness; also for many years as a […]
When Experts Pay For Their Failings – However…
You may have read lots of articles and blogs from me about inadequate or incompetent experts, and having an expert who doesn’t know his job doesn’t help your case. There are often costs consequences, a strident example being Patricia Andrews & Ors -v- Kronospan Ltd [2022] EWHC 479 which I discuss at length in my […]
Aggressive Experts – What’s The Problem?
I’ve been reading again the case of Siegel -v- Pummell [2015] EWHC 195 (QB). The facts are simple. Mr Siegel was injured in a motor accident, and Mr Pummell (think about it!) admitted liability. There was a trial on quantum and Mr Siegel succeeded in securing a reasonable amount, but he claimed his costs on […]
Experts – A Miscellany
If you have read my previous articles in this publication, much of what follows will be familiar. But please read on, because I have tried to set out briefly, and after many years of bitter experience as an expert, some helpful comments and guidance for experts and those – you – who instruct them. 1 […]
When The Experts’ Meeting Goes Wrong
“It is ordered that the experts of like experience shall liaise, and shall produce a joint statement, setting out those matters on which they are agreed, and those matters on which they have failed to reach agreement, and their reasons for not so agreeing.” This is fairly standard wording in civil cases. In criminal cases the […]