Chris Makin’s Recent Blog Posts
It Really Hurts When You’re Wrong
Why do sensible people lose the ability to act rationally when they are in conflict? What makes some families tear themselves apart in petty squabbles so that family members don’t speak to each other for years? Why do neighbours blight their daily lives with bitter and confrontational disputes? And how can otherwise placid people become […]
It’s Criminal!
Practitioners need to be aware that the authorities are taking a hard line with those who abuse the courts. We see this in two recent matters where straightforward personal injury cases turned into very serious criminal proceedings. Interestingly, both of them concern my home town of Huddersfield, though I stress we are not all criminals […]
Whose Fault – The Expert’s Or The Solicitor’s?
On these pages and in my blogs I have often told lurid stories of expert evidence going wrong, the assumption being that it is the expert who wrecked the case. But is that always fair, or do you, as instructing solicitor, also bear some responsibility? I respectfully suggest that you do have a duty, particularly […]
Border Wars
I have banged on for ages about the stupidity of going to law over border disputes. And I’m not talking about Russia invading the Crimea, or China’s campaign to take over Taiwan. No, much closer to home, I have in mind the passions which can be aroused when next-door neighbours argue over where exactly the […]
An Expert Warning
Don’t let an ill-chosen expert spoil all your good work. Experienced expert witness Chris Makin offers a checklist of experts to avoid. In appointing an expert witness, the first question you should ask is whether this person spends all their time as an expert witness. If so, proceed with caution. A retired medical professional who […]
Post-Nominals – Do They Matter?
This is a moral tale about your choice of expert. A little while ago, I wrote about Andrew Ager, an “expert” appointed by the CPS to give evidence at the trial of some men accused of the sale of voluntary carbon credits (me neither!). His incompetence, lack of experience and malpractice were quite breathtaking, causing […]
Can You Challenge An Expert Determination?
About a year ago, I wrote an article “Is an Expert Determination always the final answer?” – in which I explain how difficult it is for a party to a dispute settled by Expert Determination to challenge the expert’s decision. Here is an update. I am keen that ED is used for many kinds of […]
There Really Is An Alternative
Blood is thicker than water, and a happy family is a wonderful power for good. Those contemplating legacies to their loved ones will still have rosy memories of the baby twins, the nephews and nieces when young, of dangling a new-born on the knee…wonderful! But when the family falls out, blood curdles and that power […]
Beware Conflicts Of Interest
As I write this, David Cameron is getting into increasing difficulties over his relationship with the failed financier Lex Greensill, there are problems over senior civil servants having paid jobs in the private sector, and even Matt Hancock has problems over his family connections with a firm which provided PPE to the NHS. And then […]
Is Your Expert An Amateur?
In a recent edition of Update, the magazine of The Academy of Experts, Merryck Lowe, a forensic partner at BDO, wrote this: “There was a time when a reasonably competent professional accountant could feel comfortable if called upon to give ‘occasional’ evidence to our Courts, without further training or experience and without feeling that only […]