ABSTRACT
The important issue of expert witnesses is addressed in detail in Chapter 33, which considers when to brief an expert, what ethical considerations apply to the legal team and an expert, dealing with adverse opinion and Victorian Court rules on expert evidence. Suggestions are given on how lawyers can work effectively with experts. A number of issues arising from expert conferences and conclaves, and expert evidence in court, are discussed in light of a large class action case in the Victorian Supreme Court. In the course of Matthews v SPI Electricity, 15 rulings were made by judges on various aspects of the expert evidence process: steps in the production and exchange of expert evidence; limits to the application of Order 44 to opinion evidence; use of assessor vs special referee; tender of documents provided to experts; exclusion of cross-examination under s 42 of the Evidence Act; further supplementary reports to address lay evidence at trial; striking out of expert evidence; further expert evidence later in the trial. These rulings are summarised, as they are invaluable for their articulation of the relevant principles, and their application to the complexities in this case “to facilitate the just, efficient, timely and cost-effective resolution of the real issues in dispute”.
