Reforming the role of experts in family courts: raising the bar for evidence integrity

Baljinder Bath, 4PB

In this article, Baljinder Bath, barrister at 4PB, talks about the Family Procedure Rule Committee’s proposed reforms surrounding how expert witnesses are instructed and scrutinised in family court cases involving children, particularly the introduction of a new r 25.5A clause.

She highlights the potential advantages of these changes, including better protection for vulnerable children and families from flawed or ideologically based assessments and clearer guidelines for judges on expert criteria, but also acknowledges drawbacks such as higher costs, more administration and a smaller pool of experts.

Baljinder highlights concerns that these changes could undermine the rights of parties to cross-examine expert witnesses - a key foundation of any court proceeding - regardless of whether they meet the new regulatory standards, and references a recent public law case which demonstrates the issue.

However, ultimately, she argues that the benefits outweigh the costs and commends the reforms as a significant step forward, because they will raise the standards and integrity of expert testimony in family courts - vital in circumstances involving safeguarding, child arrangements and public law orders.

The full article has published in the July issue of Family Law. 

Read the full article here.