Promoting and enhancing best practice and technical expertise

The CPAs Annual Law Reform Lecture 2024

The CPA's Annual Law Reform Lecture 2024 - Navigating the Evolving Landscape of Expert Witness Roles and Responsibilities in 2024

    This year the CPA Reform lecture took a slightly different tact. With so much reform in the CPO world - LURA implementation, the Law Commission review and the Electricity Transmission Act, we took a look at how reform takes place through case law, in respect of expert witness roles.

    Module Duration: 1 hours 54 minutes

    Recorded: 13/05/2024

    Areas covered

    Advocate Surveyor's Duties
    • Role in negotiating compensation with acquiring authorities.
    • Valuation methodologies and evidence gathering during negotiation.
    • Challenges faced in advocating client's best interests.

    Transition to Expert Witness

    • Requirements for becoming an expert witness, considering professional bodies and qualifications.
    • Ethical considerations, including independence, objectivity and duty to the court.
    • The importance of maintaining a clear distinction between advocacy and expert opinion.
    • Aide Memoire of Gardiner & Theobald and Cheshire Lounge.

    Panel Debate:

    Impact of Cheshire Lounge

    • Potential impact on the practice of advocate surveyors acting as expert witnesses.
    • Potential changes in professional guidelines or court procedures.

    Balancing Advocacy and Expertise

    • Strategies for maintaining objectivity and independence while effectively representing the client's interests.
    • Explore the use of separate surveyors for negotiation and expert testimony.

    Future of the Dual Role

    • Potential benefits and drawbacks of advocate surveyors acting as expert witnesses.
    • Impact on efficiency, cost and fairness in compulsory purchase cases.
    • Examples outside the UK.
    • Does the industry have capacity to embrace change?

    Speakers