EWI Chief Executive Officer, Simon Berney-Edwards, shares his thoughts on 2025, a year where Expert Witnesses have continued to come under increasing scrutiny.

In this article, Dr Kay Linnell OBE talks about the role of the expert witness, and the problems that can be encountered when Instructing Parties go too far to prevent any accusation of bias or undue influence on appointed party’s expert, risking the expert’s ability to fully assist the Tribunal. Dr Linnell's article was originally published in the autumn edition of Expert Matters, EWI's membership magazine.

The Competition Appeal Tribunal has published a Practice Direction on expert evidence. The Practice Direction sets out the principles applicable to expert evidence in the Tribunal, including general principles applicable to the evidence of any expert, as well as certain specific principles applicable to economic evidence. 

Retiring from your role as an expert witness is a significant decision that requires careful consideration and planning. The EWI has published new Guidance setting out the important steps and factors to consider as you prepare for retirement.

The Civil Procedure Rule Committee's Access to Public Domain Documents Pilot will run from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2027. You can familiarise yourself with the Pilot by reading our Guidance and watching our Webinar (free to EWI Members, otherwise available on the Webshop).

We are reposting our update on the Fixed Recoverable Costs Stocktake Consultation. It is important for the Civil Procedure Rule Committee's Stocktake to be fully informed by the knowledge and experiences of expert witnesses, so do please take the time to complete our survey with the consultation questions by 21 December 2025.

The EWI has just released its new Guidance on Being instructed as a Single Joint Expert with invaluable and easily accessible information and advice for members who act as a Single Joint Expert. 

The Lady Chief Justice has issued the fourth amendment to the Criminal Practice Directions 2023 which includes changes to chapter 7 (Expert Evidence), including amendments to expert declarations of compliance.

The Civil Procedure Rule Committee is undertaking a consultation regarding the effectiveness of the extension of Fixed Recoverable Costs (FRC), inviting feedback as part of an evidence-gathering initiative conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). You can input into the EWI response by completing a survey of the consultation questions. 

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.