oct ewj 24 online - Flipbook - Page 90
and would no doubt undertake work on a contingent
basis if the parties were willing to instruct him under
such terms.
Final thoughts
Choosing the right expert to give expert evidence can
be a challenge, as it is not solely based upon their
knowledge as an expert in their field, but the way in
which they are able to harness and appropriately present this expertise in a manner commensurate with
the duties and behaviours required by the Courts.
This type of approach has no place in the expert
witness arena, breaching the declaration that experts
must sign when submitting expert reports to the
Court, which includes the following: “I understand that
my duty in providing written reports and giving evidence is to
help the Court, and that this duty overrides any obligation to
the party by whom I am engaged or the person who has paid
or is liable to pay me. I confirm that I have complied and will
continue to comply with my duty.
Crowe U.K.LLP have a specialist forensic expert
witness team, with experience spanning a wide range
of technical accountancy competencies, covering
civil, family and criminal matters as well as in the
international arbitration arena.
I confirm that I have not entered into any arrangement where
the amount or payment of my fees is in any way dependent on
the outcome of the case.”
About the author
Neil Rudd
Senior Manager, Forensic
Services at Crowe U.K.
LLP
Neil.Rudd@crowe.co.uk
+44(0)7435 770421
I know of no conflict of interest of any kind, other than any
which I have disclosed in my report.
I do not consider that any interest which I have disclosed
affects my suitability as an expert witness on any issues on
which I have given evidence.”
Having specialised in forensic accountancy since 2016,
Neil is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and a Chartered Public Finance Accountant. He supports forensic experts across a range
of technical accounting areas in civil, family and criminal matters as well as investigations into fraud and accounting irregularity. He is also adept with regard to
contentious and non-contentious valuations.
The Court will likely disregard and heavily criticise
any expert exhibiting behaviour similar to Grant’s and
also won’t be afraid to do so in the public domain,
should a matter require a written judgement. The resulting public record will be accessible to prospective
future clients, who should hopefully think twice about
engaging Grant for his services.
Dr. Mick Supp: The living legend
Mick is one of the foremost and sought after experts
in his field, having provided crucial expert witness evidence in several landmark cases across his long and illustrious career. He is, however, a victim of his own
success, which recently resulted in him being overloaded with cases, owing to being so in demand.
On one particular matter, Mick was certain it would
settle before the trial date and did not think the expert evidence would actually be very important to the
outcome. To ease his workload, Mick relied on one of
his colleagues, Paige Turner, to draft his expert report,
which he submitted to the Court after his own cursory
review.
Crowe Expert
Witness Services
Forensic and Tax Resolutions Specialists
Unfortunately, Mick came unstuck when the case did
not settle and he had to appear at Court to provide
oral expert witness evidence at short notice. Under
cross-examination, it soon became apparent that Mick
did not have a detailed understanding of his report,
often getting confused and on occasion contradicting
the opinions set out in his (but what was essentially
Paige’s) own report.
Find out more about our Expert Witness Services:
www.crowe.co.uk
Start the conversation
Martin Chapman
National Head of Forensic Services
martin.chapman@crowe.co.uk
+44 (0)121 812 0001
Mick was heavily critisised in the written Court Judgement, with his expert evidence being largely ignored
due to his incoherent and inconsistent oral expert witness testimony, thereby destroying his credibility. To
paraphrase a saying from the sporting arena…’you
are only as good as your last case’. Mick unsurprisingly
found himself to be significantly less busy subsequent
to this case.
EXPERT WITNESS JOURNAL
@CroweUK
Audit / Tax / Advisory / Risk
John Cassidy
Partner, Tax Resolutions
john.cassidy@crowe.co.uk
+44 (0)20 7842 7356
@Crowe_UK
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