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The Carter Review of Legal Aid Procurement
The consultation ended on 24 November 2005 at which point was sent to Lord Carter's Review Team.
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Update January 2006: Having read our submission, Lord Carter was moved to ask the UK Register of Expert Witnesses to make a further submission looking in particular at legal aid procurement in the civil justice system. This supplemenary submission was made on 19 January 2006.
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After the, frankly, premature and ill-informed attempts by the Legal Services Commission (LSC) to reduce their spend on expert evidence (see The Use of Experts), we are now presented with an opportunity to set out in detail how expert witnesses would like to change the way they are used in Legal Aid cases. The aim of Lord Carter’s Review of Legal Aid Procurement, with respect to expert evidence, is to seek more efficient and effective use of expert witnesses. There is surely no better place to find these answers than amongst the expert witnesses themselves.
The UK Register of Expert Witnesses has been asked to draw together views of expert witnesses about the use of expert evidence in complex and costly cases, including fraud cases, with particular emphasis on:
- What are the costs incurred when experts are used, and what factors cause these costs to escalate?
- Is there scope for greater efficiency in how expert witnesses are used?
Understanding the issues
The core problem for the LSC is how it can pay fee rates to expert witnesses that are about half of those paid in the civil arena and yet retain a pool of experienced expert witnesses who are able to provide efficient and effective opinion evidence. The answer seems to us to lie in a combination of:
- Early involvement of experts
- Staged instructions
- Pre-trial meetings of experts to identify issues
We have prepared an initial submission to the Carter Review. This is only a proposed submission at this stage. It is hoped that with feedback obtained through this survey we can hone our submission so that it more fully reflects the range of views held by experts in the UK Register of expert Witnesses. Read the Register’s proposed submission...
How to respond
The UK Register of Expert Witnesses has prepared a short survey to enable you to register your views on our proposed submission to Lord Carter. Alternatively, you can send your views, by e-mail or post, marked for the attention of the Carter Review Team by 25th November.
 Take part in the survey...
Respond in writing...
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