The UK Expert Toolkit
Five working tools for expert witnesses — built around Part 35 of the Civil Procedure Rules and the practice that has grown up around it. They come with your listing in the Expert Witness Directory.
Expert work has a shape to it. Before you accept, you work out what the job is worth. Then you build the same report structure you built last time, check it before it goes out, prepare for the discussion with the other expert, and at some point an instructing solicitor asks for your publications and you assemble the list from scratch again.
None of it is difficult. It is simply slow, and it comes round every instruction. So we built tools that take the repetitive parts off your hands and leave you the part only you can do: the opinion itself.
This page explains what each tool does. Members open them from the Exclusive Material page as soon as their listing goes live.
At a glance
Professional Fee Estimation Tool
Build a detailed fee estimate quickly, and save it as a PDF.
Quoting for expert work is where a lot of money quietly disappears. The desktop review is easy to price. It is everything around it that gets underestimated: the second tranche of disclosure, the conference with counsel, the Part 35 questions, the joint discussion, the day at court that turns into two.
The tool builds a detailed estimate across the stages of an instruction, so the figure you give your instructing solicitor reflects the whole job rather than the obvious part of it. Save it as a PDF and send it out, or keep it as the basis of your engagement terms.
An estimate set out stage by stage is also easier to defend later. When a case runs long and the fee grows, a solicitor who can see which stage moved is a great deal easier to talk to than one looking at a single number that changed.
- Fees and expenses estimated stage by stage
- A figure you can stand behind and explain
- Saves as a PDF to send or file
- Quick enough to run before you accept, not after
Expert Witness Report Structure Builder
Choose your field and the proceedings. It builds the rest.
The structure of a compliant expert report does not change much from case to case, but it does change between types of proceedings — and that is where reports get into difficulty. A criminal report under Part 19 of the Criminal Procedure Rules needs sections a civil report does not. Children proceedings need a confirmation civil proceedings never ask for. The statement of truth differs in each.
Pick your field and the type of proceedings, and the builder assembles the headings, the declaration and the correct statement of truth, with short guidance notes under each heading that you delete as you write.
The technical sections change with your field. Engineering gives site inspection, applicable standards, testing and cause of failure. Digital forensics gives continuity of evidence, tools and hash verification, and the limits of attributing activity to a person rather than a device.
- Civil, single joint expert, criminal, family, children proceedings and tribunal
- Field-specific sections for ten disciplines
- Optional sections for chronology, glossary, joint discussions and appendices
- Downloads as a Word document with A4 margins, ready to write into
Expert Witness Report Checker
A pre-submission review for reports in civil proceedings.
Reports get into difficulty in predictable ways. The opinion that appears in the conclusions but never in the body. The range of opinion in the field that is never acknowledged, which is one of the most common criticisms made of expert reports. The instruction that shaped the whole analysis but is never set out. The assumption supplied by the solicitor that is never labelled as an assumption.
The checker is a last pass over the finished draft. Work through it before the report is served and you catch the gaps while they are still cheap to fix — rather than in a Part 35 question, or in cross-examination.
It complements the Structure Builder rather than repeating it. That one gives you the skeleton before you write. This one tests the finished document.
- Completeness and internal consistency of the report
- Whether the substance of instructions and all material facts are set out
- Whether the range of opinion is addressed and reasons given
- Whether the declaration and statement of truth are present and correct
Joint Statement Preparation Tool
Two documents from one set of entries: your prep note, and a neutral draft.
The experts’ discussion is where cases narrow, and it rewards preparation more than almost anything else an expert does. Joint statements have specific requirements: the extent of agreement, the points of disagreement and the reasons for them, the action that could resolve the disagreement, and any further material issues.
Work through the issues one at a time. For each, record your position and the other expert’s with report paragraph references, the type of disagreement, the reason in your own words, what would resolve it, and the questions you want to ask.
That produces two separate documents. Your preparation note holds your questions and private notes. The draft joint statement holds neither — only the neutral material, in the order the rules require.
- Issues reorder to follow the agenda
- Enter the discussion date and it works out the signing and service dates
- A pre-discussion checklist covering agenda neutrality and freedom to change your view
- Both documents download to Word
Expert Witness Publications Tracker
Record each publication once. Produce the bibliography whenever it is asked for.
Instructing solicitors ask for your publications when they are deciding whether to instruct you at all, and again when your CV goes into the bundle. Most experts rebuild that list from memory and a folder of PDFs, under time pressure, every time.
The tracker replaces that with a single record you add to as you publish. The form adapts to what you are recording, so a book does not ask for a volume number and a chapter asks for the book title and publisher.
Three controls then shape the output: chronological order, citation style, and whether to include everything or peer-reviewed work only. The bibliography rebuilds itself every time you change anything — for your CV, your report appendix, or an instructing solicitor who asked this morning.
- Journal articles, books, chapters, conference papers, reports and more
- Author–date or numbered style; newest first, oldest first, or grouped by type
- A peer-reviewed-only filter, which is often all that is wanted
- Copy, print, or export a backup file to carry between computers
Smith, J. (2024). Weld corrosion in bridge supports. Journal of Forensic Engineering, 41(2), 118–134.
Okafor, N. & Smith, J. (2022). Error rates in metallurgical failure analysis. Annual Forensic Society Meeting, 44–51.
Smith, J. (2021). Giving evidence remotely. In Handbook of Expert Evidence (pp. 305–322). Routledge.
How they work
In your browser
Each tool is a page on this site. Nothing to install, no app, no separate account. Open it and start.
Your work stays yours
What you type is saved in your own browser so you can close the tab and come back. It is not sent to us and it is not stored on our servers. We cannot read it, and neither can anyone else.
Take the output with you
The tools produce something you can use elsewhere — a Word document, a PDF, a printable page or a backup you can move to another computer.
Preparation aids, not advice
These tools organise your thinking and your paperwork. They are not legal advice, they do not check the substance of your work, and they do not replace your own judgement or the directions in your case.
Included with your listing
Join the Expert Witness Directory and the toolkit opens as soon as your listing goes live. Three tools come with every membership; the Fee Estimation Tool and the Joint Statement Preparation Tool are part of Platinum.
Join the DirectoryAlready a member? Sign in to open the tools
Questions
Is there an extra charge for the tools?
No. They come with membership. Three are available to every member, and two — the Professional Fee Estimation Tool and the Joint Statement Preparation Tool — are part of Platinum membership.
Do you see what I type into them?
No. Your entries are held in your own browser and never reach our servers. That also means they do not follow you to another computer, which is why the tools that hold long-term records let you export a backup file.
Will the report tools write my report for me?
No, and they are built not to. The Structure Builder produces a skeleton and guidance notes, not content. The Report Checker tests whether the finished document does what it should. The opinion stays yours, which is the only way it could work.
The rules change. Will the tools?
Yes, we update them. That said, rules and practice directions are amended from time to time and a court may direct something different in your case, so check the current rules and your order for directions before you file anything.
Will there be more?
Yes. Members tell us which parts of expert work take the longest, and the next tools come from those replies. If you have something in mind, tell us.
The tools described on this page are preparation aids for expert witnesses. They are not legal advice and do not create any professional relationship. Procedural rules, codes of conduct and professional obligations differ between jurisdictions and change over time. Always check the current rules, practice directions or codes that apply in your court, and the directions given in your case, and take advice from those instructing you where appropriate.
