Improving standards of expert witness evidence in Scotland

09 September 2020 | Alyson Aslin

A brand new university certificated training programme will be launched virtually on tomorrow - Thursday 10 September 2020 4.45 pm.

Improving standards of expert witness evidence in Scotland

Mark Solon, Solicitor, and founder of Bond Solon says:

"Courts, lawyers and the public need expert witnesses who are competent to provide truly independent opinion evidence on the technical issues that frequently arise in litigation. Until now, there has been no formal certified training for experts who give evidence in the Scottish legal system. The new University of Aberdeen Bond Solon Expert Witness Certificate programme now provides such training."

Expert witnesses need two sets of skills: firstly the qualifications and experience in a specialist field to enable them to give expert evidence and secondly the skills needed to be an expert witness: how to write a court compliant report, how to give oral evidence and the law and procedure relevant to experts. There have been several cases where expert witnesses have been shown to be incompetent or even dishonest. Training can help reduce this happening.

Bond Solon has been training expert witnesses in England and Wales for over 25 years. A similar programme will now be available in Scotland tailored to the Scottish legal system.

Professor Margaret Ross of the University of Aberdeen says:

"This is the first university certificated expert witness programme in Scotland. The Certificate enables experts to demonstrate to both instructing solicitors and the courts that they have been assessed and hold the core and requisite competencies to act as an expert witness."

The free virtual launch event will be held virtually via Zoom. It will last about 20 minutes and includes contributions from the Lord Advocate of Scotland, Lisa Henderson QC and Paul Mosson, Law Society of Scotland.

To register for this free live launch event (Thursday 10 September – 16.45pm) please RSVP at irene.pardo@bondsolon.com

Some 6000 experts and lawyers have been invited. Full details of the programme will be given and there will be time for questions.

Source : Bond Salon