Where expert witnesses fear to tread

Since 1997 the environment for expert witnesses in the United Kingdom has been increasingly hostile. This is partly because the UK has taken longer to tackle the issue of experts tending to favour the party instructing them. Unfortunately the calm thinking required to examine the merits of differing systems of ensuring impartial advice, which started in the late 1990s, has more recently been clouded by the emotive issues of child protection. The case of Roy Meadow exemplifies the problem—and now may have prompted a series of solutions.