Book Review

The Expert Witness

Jean Graham Hall and Gordon D Smith

Barry Rose Law Publishers

Second Edition, 24 October 1997

£22.00 (Hardback); £16.00 (Paperback)

On reading only the first few pages of this book, I began to regret not having obtained a copy of edition 1, which was reviewed by Francis Miller in issue 19 of News & Views back in November 1992. However, I note that the price has remained the same! In this branch we are privileged to have the clear and authorative input from Jean Graham Hall at our Croydon meetings and her frequent contributions to News & Views and so it should not come as a surprise to anyone that I found the book to be extremely easy to read and informative. I particularly like the size which fits reasonably into the pocket and, combined with short chapters makes for a book which can be read in short bites. Those of us with failing eyesight will also appreciate the decent size of print.

It is of great credit to the authors that they have fitted so much into a book with those other attributes. I would praise the authors particularly for not dwelling on cases. The particular relevant facts of the case are mentioned, along with a case reference and the usual (boring) analysis is avoided. If I want to know more, I will refer to the full report or judgment, I do not like being bogged down by minutiae.My only real criticism is that the authors have played safe and restricted their terms of reference to those functions recog nised at law. I am keen on promoting experts in the other ways in which they can assist in progressing the case, such as preparation of pleadings, further and better particulars, witness statements, etc all of which take you to (possibly over) the boundary between the impartial expert and one who is promoting his or her clients case. However, for the better resolution of disputes, I believe that this is a boundary worth exploring and would like to see authors speculating on the possible further functions of the expert. All of us have different ideas about experts and I find that every expert has a different idea about his or her own function. The one thing that is indisputable is that every expert will benefit from increasing his or her knowledge about the legal process. This book will prove invaluable both for those in their early appointments as expert and for revision or interest of those who have seen it all before.