Instructions
Definition
The written brief given to the expert that defines the questions they are asked to address, the materials they are given, and the scope of their work. The report must clearly state the instructions received, because the court needs to know what the expert was and was not asked to consider.
- Field
- Expert witness reporting
- Defines
- Questions, materials, and scope of the expert's work
- Must appear in
- The expert report
- Purpose
- Shows the court what the expert was and was not asked to address
Common questions
Why does the court need to see the exact instructions given to an expert?+
Without a stated scope, a reader cannot judge whether a gap in the report reflects a limitation in the evidence or simply a question the expert was never asked to answer, so disclosing instructions frames the report's boundaries.
Can an expert answer questions beyond the original instructions if new evidence emerges?+
Generally an expert should seek amended or supplementary instructions before extending their opinion, since straying beyond the brief without documenting that change can undermine the report's transparency and the court's ability to assess it.
Related terms
- Concurrent Evidence
- Also called 'hot-tubbing': a procedure, common in Australian courts and used experimentally in England, where opposing experts give evidence simultaneously, respond to...
- Likelihood Ratio (LR)
- The ratio of two conditional probabilities: the probability of the observed evidence given the prosecution's hypothesis (same source), divided by the probability...
- Overriding Duty
- The expert's primary obligation to give the court an honest, objective, and complete account of the evidence, regardless of the interests of...
- Single Joint Expert (SJE)
- An expert appointed by a court or agreed by both parties to provide a single neutral opinion rather than one expert per...
- Statement of Limitations
- A section of the report that identifies factors constraining the reliability or completeness of the opinion, including sample quality, missing data, unvalidated...