MoJ Consultation, Aug 2009


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Rate the Register's response to the MoJ Consultation

This survey closed on 2 November 2009. We received 110 responses.

The Executive Summary of our draft response sets out a number of key observations, statements and suggestions. One way you can respond to the Consultation is to endorse or reject the views in our response using the feedback form below.

The other ways in which you can respond to the Consultation Paper are to:

send us your written response tell me how...
send your written response direct to the MoJ. tell me how...

	We will treat all information you provide on this questionnaire in the strictest confidence and nothing we publish will allow your individual responses to be identified. You may submit this information anonymously if you wish, but if you are willing to identify yourself please enter your name or JSP reference if you have one.


	Name: JSP reference: JSP/U

		Your level of support
1	The proposals – based, as they are, on guesswork – fail to deliver a convincing analysis of the current position. From such poor groundwork, the MoJ has arrived at proposals that carry with them a significant danger of reducing the pool, and overall quality, of experts willing to work in publicly funded cases.	Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

2	The disparity between the rates paid to expert witnesses in the civil and crime arenas arises from the fact that the LSC is a monopoly purchaser in the publicly funded arena. As such, it currently achieves a discount on its purchase of expert witness services of around 20% compared with the rates set by the free market operating in the civil arena.	Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

3	The MoJ proposals are based on the flawed assumption that expert witnesses are equivalent to the solicitors and barristers involved in publicly funded cases. It is implicit in these proposals that the MoJ thinks expert witnesses will react in the same way as the lawyers have to the unsophisticated application of arbitrary banding and capping of fee rates. They will not, for they need not.	Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

4	Lawyers are part of the legal system, but expert witnesses are simply guests in it. Whilst the MoJ pays lip-service to the fact that expert witnesses have a vital role as guests in the system, these proposals take no account of the reality of the disruption that forensic work can cause to professional people’s working lives.	Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

5	The MoJ complains that the expert witness community is hard to reach because, unlike lawyers, experts do not have a small number of representative bodies. This is because, for good reasons, we do not have a professional class of ‘expert witness’ in this country. The courts need experienced and often busy professionals to visit the legal system to assist as necessary on technical matters. If implemented, these proposals would run a very great risk of restricting the supply of experts to those who, for whatever reason, have to accept the ‘meagre’ rates on offer – experts who presumably couldn’t earn more elsewhere and so would be likely to be full time expert witnesses. That would be a major step in the creation of the professional class of expert witness we should all be working to prevent.	Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

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	If you wish to expand on any of your answers, please do so in a separate email to moj09_dr@jspubs.com