Important changes to the length of expert reports are being brought in from the 1st October 2023 for cases being dealt with through the newly created intermediate track.
Following the decision to move ahead with the extension of the Fixed Cost Regime, the Civil Procedure Rules Committee released the draft rules for the new intermediate track earlier this year which will be used to handle most civil claims worth between £25,000 and £100,000.
But Expert Witnesses may have missed a key change being introduced as part of the new rules.
Whilst changes were proposed to various Civil Procedure Rules, there were no specific changes to Part 35.
However, within the revision to Rule 28, under 28.14 (3) it states that unless the court orders otherwise:
"any expert report shall not exceed 20 pages, excluding any necessary photographs, plans and academic or technical articles attached to the report."
Therefore, from the 1st October 2023, experts will need to make sure that they comply with this rule if the case is being dealt with through the new intermediate track.
Initial feedback from members has raised concerns about this change, a concern that we share too. The Expert Witness Institute fed into the consultation regarding the new Fixed Costs regime and there has been no specific engagement or consultation on this particular proposal. We assume the logic applied is that lower level cases are likely to be less complex. But this does not take into account the specifics of every case. For example, for psychologists, if you have a client with a complex history this could be really difficult.
The Expert Witness Institute are keen to hear from you if you believe these changes will present a challenge to your practice going forward so we can use specific examples when raising our concerns with the Civil Procedure Rules Committee. Please get in touch with us via info@ewi.org.uk to provide your feedback.
You can check out the draft rules on the link below.