Details
Provides practical advice and guidance for expert witnesses who need to prepare reports and give evidence in proceedings under the Children Act 1989, with a view to promoting good practice.
This edition of the handbook is fully updated, includes several new chapters, and explains the way in which the courts, hearing proceedings relating to children, approach expert evidence. It aims to dispel misunderstandings and to help doctors and other related professionals to achieve an awareness and understanding of the important legal developments which have recently taken place. Accordingly the book aims to encourage more suitably qualified experts to take on this very important work.
The Rt Hon Lord Justice Wall brings together advice and comment on the respective roles of the expert and the judge, the general duties of expert witnesses, preparing reports and giving evidence in child proceedings, to produce an essential guide for expert witnesses, judges and legal practitioners.
Includes a CD-ROM containing the updated Expert Witness Pack, revised by Dr Eileen Vizard, Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist, NSPCC and Penny Cooper, Barrister, Associate Dean, The City Law School and Inns of Court School of Law
-
Meadow v General Medical Council (GMC)
- Why am I doing this?
- The Nature of Family Proceedings Relating to Children
- Three Cardinal Principals Governing Family Proceedings
- The Respective Roles of Experts and Judge: Why the Professional Integrity of Experts is so Important
- The General Duties of Experts
- What you can advise the judge about
- Preliminary Enquiries of the Experts
- The Nature of the Brief Given by the Court
- The Letter of Instruction
- Tour Enquiries: The General Rule and Some Pitfalls
- Discussions between Experts Prior to Reports Being Written
- Meetings of Experts Prior to Reports Being Written
- Meetings of Experts Directed by the Court
- Pre-hearing Conferences with Counsel and/or with the Solicitor who has Commissioned the Expert Report
- Joint Instructions
- Where there are both Criminal and Care Proceedings under the Children Act 1989
- Writing the Report
- Changing your Opinion
- Preparing for Court
- Witness Summonses (formerly known as Subpoenas)
- What Happens at and in the Court: Introduction
- At Court: Who can you talk to?
- Giving evidence
- Feedback and Complaints
- Payment of Experts' Fee and Charges
- The Public Law Protocol: Appendix C
- The Family Justice Council
- The Relevance of the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA1998) and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)
- Which Expert? Psychiatrist or Psychologist?
- Reliance on Psychometric Testing
- Anonymous or Partial Instructions
- The Dangers Being the Single Expert
- What if you are the Treating Clinician?
- Difficult Medical Issues in Which the Court has Become Involves
- Will you be Named? Anonymity in Proceedings Relating to Children
- The British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII)
Appendices
- Suggested Further Reading
- The Family Justice Council
- Care Centres and their Designated Family Judges
- Her Majesty's Courts Service Estate by Region and Area and the Family Division Liaison Judges
- A Note on Judicial Titles and Law Reports
- Suggested Standard Document in Relation to Fees/ Charges
- Model Free Note
- Expert Witness Terms of Engagement n Legal Aided Children Act Proceedings
- Courts Hearing Family Cases
- The Children and Families Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS)
- Proposed Guidance on Expert and Assessors in Proceedings Relating to Children
The Rt Hon Lord Justice Wall
With contributions by Stephen Cobb QC, 1 Garden Court and Peggy Ray, Partner, Goodman Ray
"This excellent book should be read by a range of professionals within the family justice system ... an essential contribution to the development of a coherent family justice system"
Child Psychology & Psychiatry Review
"Thoughtful and erudite, Wall LJ brings together his many years' experience, gleaned from the family courts, to provide well thought out and practical guidance ... A thoroughly useful guide for experts in particular, but also for lawyers wishing to promote best practice"
The In-House Lawyer
"an essential guide for expert witnesses, judges and legal practitioners"
Publication Monitor
"Experts will find this book very useful in so many ways"
Association of Lawyers for Children
"I was very pleased to discover that a Second Edition (2007) had been published of this excellent book ... even if you have the earlier version, this is well worth looking at ... Everything is distilled into easily digestible bite-sized chunks ... packed with practical and useful advice for the expert working in this arena ... This is an excellent book which I would recommend as essential reading for anyone working in this area ... a useful resource"
The Academy of Experts
