Chris Makin’s Blog Posts about ‘Litigation’
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Can Your Expert Truly Sign The Statement Of Truth?
An expert’s report under CPR must conclude with the Expert’s Declaration stating that the expert knows his duty to the court and has complied with that duty. There must then be a Statement of Truth, which used to say: But as from 1 October 2020 that statement is extended, with these words: It is relevant […]
When Lawyers Wreck Their Case
In recent blogs I have gone on at some length about inadequate “experts”, and the damage they can do to your carefully prepared case. Think of Prof Sir Roy Meadow, probably the most notorious example, the proponent of “Meadow’s Law” (one cot death is unfortunate, two are suspicious, three are murder) who pretended to be […]
Family Matters
Accountants are into everything, aren’t they? And that is especially true when things go wrong. In these blogs you will have read (I hope) about how an accountant can act as expert in commercial litigation, can act as mediator in commercial disputes and much else besides, can investigate fraud, and can trace and quantify the […]
Choose Your Expert With Care!
A sign seen in a Boston, Mass. shoe repairer’s window: “Fast Service – High Quality – Low Price – choose any two.” Is that how you choose your experts? I sincerely hope not! Here are my thoughts and suggestions, as a hard-bitten expert of 30 years’ experience. I am a chartered accountant so the slant […]