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Expert witness terms of agreement - do they transfer if solicitor changes?

2 replies

Strawberrycocktail · 10/09/2023 09:22

I wondering if any litigation lawyers/barristers or expert witnesses could tell me what happens if the client’s law firm changes after an instruction is made to an expert witness? Does the new firm simply notify the witness they have taken over the case and become the point of contact on the same terms previously agreed with the old solicitor or does it get more complicated? I have a complaint in progress with current solicitor and depending on how that is resolved I may need to change s9licitor (I dont take this lightly but it would have to be done if necessary/in our best interests). In the meantime, we have to get on with instruction of the expert because of directions deadlines so the expert is being instructed imminently and there will be various steps where their involvent will be needed as the case progresses. Therefore, I wanted to check if it is problematic to switch solicitors after the expert is instructed -eg would a new firm require the expert to agree to different terms of business, in which case what happens if the expert doesnt agree? Or do most solicitors seek to maintain continuity with the expert by not overcomplicating things with new terms and likewise do experts accept they are working with a different law firm as the client is obviously still the same? As a novice in litigation matters I just wondered how big a deal this is? Thank you in advance for you insights!

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eurochick · 10/09/2023 09:33

If the experts's contract is between the expert and the law firm, that will need to be terminated and a new contract will have to be agreed with the new firm. When engaging the new firm I would make sure they would be happy to instruct the expert on the same terms as the previous firm as part of the process. If you are paying the fees it is fairly simple to move firms. It gets more complex if there are conditional fee arrangements, a damages based agreement, insurance or third party funding involved.

Strawberrycocktail · 10/09/2023 11:45

Thank you Eurochick. That sounds quite worrying! It would be a major prevention of freedom of choice of solicitor.

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