It’s impossible to ignore Artificial Intelligence (AI) which suddenly exploded into the public conscious a couple of years ago with the launch of ChatGPT. The term AI was actually coined in 1956, and some of the underlying mathematics has been around for centuries. What changed everything was the emergence of transformers, a technology that was developed at Google that has enabled software to interpret complex human language and offer a remarkable facsimile of intelligent dialogue.

AI is infiltrating almost every area of human endeavour, so it is inevitable that it will impact your practice as an expert witness. In this introductory article, AI practitioner and Expert Witness Dr Richard Marshall discusses: the power and pitfalls of AI tools, and how AI will affect the matters on which experts opine.

The Civil Justice Council (‘CJC’) is intending to review its ‘Guidance for the instruction of experts in civil claims’ with a view to considering whether the Guidance was still useful and whether it should be updated. The CJC would be interested in hearing about any issues which they should consider as part of that review, including any broader policy issues which the CJC should consider. We've included some indicative questions in this article and would appreciate your thoughts. 

One of the key roles of the Expert Witness Institute (‘EWI’) is to ensure that policy, rule and regulatory changes are informed by the experience of our members, and the needs of the expert witness community and the wider justice system. In this update, we discuss policy developments and our advocacy work over the last few months.   

We are re-publishing our article on the paper on 'How to reduce the risk of re-traumatising claimants in medico-legal litigation claims' ahead of the closing date for responses to the survey on 30 June. Don't miss out on ensuring your voice is heard!

We have published extensive new resources on Alternative Dispute Resolution in the EWI Knowledge Hub. 

Version 2 of the Forensic Science Regulator ('FSR') Code of Practice has completed its passage through both Houses of Parliament and will come into force on 2 October 2025.

The Family Justice Council (FJC) has published guidance for professionals and litigants who represent themselves on the use of covert recordings in family law proceedings. The guidance follows an increased use of covert recordings in family law proceedings and the need for clear guidance, and the protection and privacy of those subject to the recording.

The Civil Procedure Rule Committee has approved in principle a 2-year pilot on “access to public domain documents” in the Commercial Court, London Circuit Court and the Financial List effective from 1 October 2025. 

The EWI has been provided with a copy of a recently written paper setting out the risk of re-traumatising claimants in medico-legal litigation and proposing reforms to reduce this risk. We support the principles set out in the paper and the aims and objectives of the authors, and consider the paper is a good starting point for a broader discussion among the medio-legal community of the risk of worsening the psychological trauma and the need to work within a trauma informed approach. We have set out in this article some issues we think could benefit from the input of the wider community, but welcome views on other issues.