In these highly litigious times; the appointment of an expert witness is unfortunately all-too common and this blog post follows the excellent CPD course I completed at the RIAI on becoming an Expert Witness recently.

Firstly, what is an ‘Expert Witness’?

A dispute starts:

a. Claim is made by Person 1.

b. Claim is rejected by Person 2.

c. That rejection is inturn rejected by Person 1.

In order to settle the dispute, unbiased Expert Witnesses are appointed to investigate, prepare reports and then possibly to present those reports in court in order to provide evidence to support their findings.

Who can be an Expert Witness?

Basically it’s anyone with a specialist knowledge that can investigate and present their findings in an unbiased manner. This work is ideal for the architectural profession as it is them (more than any other design professional) that is trained to see the overall picture on any construction project; the GP if you like of designing and building.

If you think about the level of expertise and training that EVERY architect would have from design, planning, Building Regulations, Construction, detailing, contract administration, inspections, certificates…the list is endless and it is time that architects started to undertake this work again.

Therefore, if if you have any need for an Expert Witness, please do not hesitate to CONTACT ME…

I can also put you in touch with other Expert Witnesses that have particular expertise in Structural Engineering / structural failures and experts with specific knowledge in specific areas concerning Planning, again CONTACT ME…