Seamus E. Byrne's - In Pursuit of Relevance

Preliminary

On 5 May 2008, Chief Justice Black issued an update to the existing Practice Direction: 'Guidelines for Expert Witnesses in Proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia'.

This update replaced the earlier revision dated 6 June 2007.

Why?

Practitioners should give a copy of the following guidelines to any witness they propose to retain for the purpose of preparing a report or giving evidence in a proceeding as to an opinion held by the witness that is wholly or substantially based on the specialised knowledge of the witness (see - Part 3.3 - Opinion of the Evidence Act 1995 (Cth)).

What?

Per the Federal Court's website:

The new Practice Direction addresses concerns that the previous version, expressly or impliedly, prevented a practitioner from using an expert to assist that practitioner to understand the field of expertise relevant to the issues in the proceeding and then calling that expert as a witness in the proceeding.

In particular, a new paragraph has been added at the end of the Explanatory Memorandum which makes clear that the Practice Direction is not intended to require the retention of more than one expert on the same subject matter.