CURBING ADVERSARIAL EXCESSES: AN EVALUATION OF THE EXPERT EVIDENCE REGIME IN HONG KONG AFTER THE CIVIL JUSTICE REFORM (WITH A FOCUSED STUDY ON PERSONAL INJURY LITIGATION)

The Hong Kong expert evidence regime in the past was highly adversarial. It is not uncommon that experts were instructed as ‘hired guns’. Instead of assisting the court to find the truth, adversarial experts acted more like advocates than witnesses. This paper seeks to expound the procedural framework for the use of expert evidence in civil lawsuits, highlighting those changes made pursuant to the Civil Justice Reform to tackle the adversarial excesses in the system. This paper also explores expert evidence within the context of personal injury litigation in Hong Kong (which is governed under a set of specialist rules). Given the nature of personal injury disputes, the use of expert evidence is essential in the fact-finding process. The way expert evidence is deployed and managed under the specialist rules in personal injury litigation provides invaluable insight for further reform in the general procedural regime.