PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS – WHAT ABOUT THE EXPERT WITNESSES?
Recent experience has highlighted several incidents where experts may not have demonstrated the respect and integrity that should be expected when performing expert witness duties. Examples of these incidents include: an expert refusing to quantify damages, an expert retracting timetabling assertions made in a joint meeting and an expert retracting statements made in the joint statement shortly before testifying. It is unknown whether the actions of the experts in these examples were taken on instruction or otherwise. For this article, it leads us nicely on to the new ICCA Guidelines on Professional Standards in International Arbitration, released in June 2021, and their applicability to expert witnesses.
How do the guidelines on the standards of practice in international arbitration guide expert witness interactions?
The Guidelines were issued to reflect the broad consensus in the international arbitration community as to the ‘guiding principles of civility’ which are expected from all participants during an international arbitration. The Guidelines are split into four key sections: general guidelines for all participants, guidelines for party representatives, guidelines for arbitrators and guidelines for other participants. For this article, we will focus on the general guidelines and the guidelines for other participants, which includes experts and factual witnesses.
Oct-Dec 2021 issue
Mazars LLP