Impartiality duty
Definition
The obligation on an expert witness to provide the same opinion regardless of which party instructed them. An expert who would change their conclusions if retained by the other side is not acting as an expert but as an advocate.
Related terms
- Casework peer review
- Independent review of a forensic expert's findings and conclusions by a second qualified specialist before the report is issued. The standard model...
- Expert witness
- A person with specialised knowledge or skill who is permitted to give opinion evidence to a court, as distinct from a witness...
- Forensic Science Regulator (FSR)
- A statutory office in the UK that publishes mandatory Codes of Practice and Conduct for all forensic science providers in England and...
- IAFS
- The International Association of Forensic Sciences, one of the major professional bodies for forensic scientists globally. Membership signals engagement with the wider...
- ISO/IEC 17020
- The international standard specifying requirements for the competence of inspection bodies, covering their activities, management systems, and operational procedures. Applied to forensic...
Explained in
- Expert Witness Testimony and Quality AssuranceThe obligation on an expert witness to provide the same opinion regardless of which party instructed them. An expert who would change their conclusions if reta...