Expert witness fees - anyone who can advise?

[TinyGrassIsDreaming]

NC for this as I don't want to jeopardise the court case.

I've been appointed as an expert witness to supply a report to the court in a negligence hearing. It's my first time doing this, so please bear with me! The solicitor handling the case has asked me for an invoice detailing my charges etc, and I don't have the first clue what I should be asking for.

I work in a very niche area. The legal firm had terrific problems trying to find somebody with enough experience/knowledge in this area who could submit a report, prior to contacting me, so it's not as if expert witnesses in my field are easy to come by. I don't know if that affects my costs at all.

I've looked at the CPS scale of guidance in relation to fees, and my particular profession isn't listed there, which is no surprise. Is there anyone with any experience of this who'd be willing to advise? Naturally, I can go into greater detail in PMs. TIA!

The solicitor advised me yesterday that right now, they only want my fee for the report, as they need to satisfy their insurers that it's justified before they proceed any further. They want me to invoice them as per the stages of the case, so if I need to be present at court, or meet with the counsel, they want invoicing prior to that happening. Does that sound acceptable?

Yes, if it means that you bill for each stage once it is completed .

No if you actually mean that you " invoice " prior to something happening . If they want an estimate of fees, that's something different, and you will find that hard as you don't have the experience .

As a Pp said, don't give a fixed fee for anything .

If the value of the case is small, it's unlikely to go to court, insurers will settle . Just to warn you.

I'm a little concerned now that this is a personal injury claim through one of the less scrupulous ' no win no fee ' outfits . Please tell me I'm wrong.

Kr1stina, I'll make sure it's a bill for completed work, thank you for making that distinction - can you tell I'm new to all this?

From what I've been told, the value isn't small, though of course my idea of a substantial amount may be very different to that of someone who has more experience than me in this area.

They are a no win no fee outfit. Should I be worried? I can PM you if you need any specifics - I really appreciate your help with this.

I'm sorry, I know NOTHING about personal injury work , we are experts in a totally different field, where claims are often for hundreds of thousands or millions .

OP, the concept of "no win no fee" is not in itself a bad thing. It allows people with genuine injuries to seek redress that they otherwise could not afford. The mechanism is sanctioned by the Courts and they apply exactly the same legal rules to these cases as they do to any other case.

However, Kr1stina is absolutely right that some PI claimant lawyers are ambulance-chasing scum, encouraging people to pursue spurious claims for exaggerated amounts.

Use your own judgment- if you think that the victim has genuinely suffered a serious injury due to someone else's failure to perform a procedure to the requisite professional standard AND that he/she has suffered genuine financial consequences as a result, then why not do what you can to help and earn a bit of money in the process.

Jessie, she's definitely been left disfigured. I'm not sure what, if any, financial consequences there were, but there was plenty of physical and emotional distress. I suppose that's not really for me to question, but as a professional doing the same job as the defendant, I can categorically state that the work was carried out to a very poor standard and is entirely the cause of her disfigurement. It didn't need to happen, the defendant could've sought advice or told the client to see a doctor, and a lot of the issues could've been avoided.

The solicitor told me that they haven't dealt with a case in this field before, so in many ways they're very new to it too. I don't know how well that bodes, but if they've made it to court, I'm guessing they've got a case.

My limited experience of working with no-win no-fee solicitors is that you CANNOT spend any more time than you have estimated or quoted for. So effectively your estimate will act as a capped fee agreement. Worth bearing in mind when you are putting together your quotation for the initial report, and then the following stages to trial.