New national standards for family court experts - 02.10.2014

Related Sector: Expert Witness

The new standards, launched by Lord McNally and Sir James Munby at our last Expert Witness Conference, became law yesterday. These national standards (England and Wales) are designed to raise the quality of expert witness evidence in family court cases and speed up proceedings.

The standards include making sure that the expert:

• has knowledge appropriate to the court case
• has been active in the area of work or practice and has sufficient experience of the issues relevant to the case
• is either regulated or accredited to a registered body where this is appropriate
• has relevant qualifications and has received appropriate training
• complies with safeguarding requirements

For more information, see the an interview with Lord McNally from last year’s conference, or the revised Practice Direction 25B.

The next Bond Solon Annual Expert Witness Conference is on 7 November 2014. If you haven’t secured your place already, you can book online or by calling us on 020 7549 2549.