Reports for court · digital evidence, Plymouth
A report is worth only as much as it can withstand. Someone on the other side has been paid to take it apart. A report written to keep happy those who commissioned it will not last the morning. CPR Part 35 decides this in advance: an expert owes the duty to the court, above client, solicitor and fee. Solicitors and insurers across Plymouth, Devon and Cornwall know this. Our reports start here.
A quiet word first?
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| Kind of report | Where it is used | What goes into it |
|---|---|---|
| A findings report alone | Early advice, HR matters, board-level decisions | What was found, how it was reached, what it means: in plain words |
| A report on an insurance loss | Where cause, extent and liability are in dispute | The findings, exhibits, and how the loss occurred |
| The CPR Part 35 expert report | Civil claims in England and Wales | Duty to the court first, your instructions summarised, the method used in full, and both signed statements, truth and compliance |
| The CrimPR Part 19 expert report | Matters heading to a criminal court | The shape of a criminal report: qualifications, anything a court needs to consider when assessing reliability, credibility declared |
| A single joint expert | Where the two sides instruct one examiner together | The same report given to each side, with the duty running over the top of both parties directly to the court |
Call us and tell us as much or as little as you like. The call costs nothing. It needs to establish what the matter is: what happened, which devices and accounts are involved, and what question the evidence has to answer. That defines the scope. One written figure follows from it, and you get that before anything is opened.
The letter of instruction is summarised into the report (in our own words). Beside that goes all material touching upon our credibility, beginning here: an independent lab holding no accreditation. Better to have it on page 1 than prised out of somebody standing in a witness box.
Every step is done and recorded on the basis of being watched by the opposing examiner for the joint that gives. That is what they are engaged for. None of the conclusions points towards whoever is paying.
The forum determines the format. Civil work is prepared in accordance with CPR Part 35 and criminal work under CrimPR Part 19. Both need identical working parts: a written method, the exhibits, an unbroken account of where each went and who had them, and two declarations. Conclusions go first, and the technical detail follows in an annex.
Anything the other side can't check is something to argue over. So we put together a bundle that can be checked: exhibit references, the images each finding was read from, every handover with its date, hash values, and the notes made during the examination. Their own examiner can repeat the work and reach the same result.
One question to ask about any expert you are considering: the Criminal Procedure Rules oblige experts to disclose anything a court might reasonably think would call their credibility into question, and CPS guidance mentions missing accreditation specifically as one such thing. Remain silent and the problem becomes your client's. Ours appears on page 1 of every report leaving this room.
Two companies shared one folder, and the accounts in it existed in two versions which did not match. Imaging showed editing on both, and the order in which those edits took place settled it. The matter closed inside the month.
A findings report covers two things: what was there, and how it was located. A court report contains everything contained within the findings report, plus more: the duty the expert owes the court, a summary of your instructions, the methods used to reach a conclusion, the history of exhibits from beginning to end, signed statements of truth and compliance with the rules, and everything which may be raised by the opposing side regarding the expert.
The court. Who is paying for the services is irrelevant. Whatever obligation is owed to the instructing party is secondary to the obligations owed to the court. This is why the report itself has any worth.
Yes. One report, one set of conclusions, and both parties receive them simultaneously. No drafts are circulated early, and neither party can alter or amend the language.
As per the rules it has to be declared, so it appears at the top rather than buried in fine print. When examining a report, a court will examine the methodology. The methodology is what gives an expert's opinion its weight. It is here that the bulk of the work occurs. Reports come apart because they have overstepped their bounds, not because of the absence of a certificate.
The sooner the material arrives at the bench, the more time there is to detail exactly what it demonstrates, and how it was handled. Begin it here. The first look will cost nothing, and what you share will go no further.