Forensic Lite

The perception of experts is that they are expensive! Many feel that it’s like a train journey; once instructed, the train you have just boarded leaves the station and it’s difficult to get off, and parties are tied into an expensive journey.

We have increasingly seen that costs, or the fear of costs, is leading to early settlement. This is normally in cases where the instruction of a single joint expert is commonplace. We have to provide a costs estimate for completion of the full expert report and have little chance to interact with the parties or their advisers.

Prime Forensic have been providing the Forensic Lite service in since mid 2012. It involves agreement of a fixed fee case review rather than the commissioning of a full expert investigation and report. Often the issues in a case are not clear and guidance from an expert early on can help clarify points and provide comfort that technical issues are not being conceded or overlooked because of the fear of the costs of expert advice. Our early involvement can help to identify the financial issues, clarify which are worth investigating and which are not. The service also helps identify where additional information should be requested, and can include the draft questions for you to raise.

Forensic Lite, our review service, therefore provides parties with access to expert advice at a reasonable cost without commitment to anything more. It is not a substitute for a full investigation or report, it isn’t a CPR compliant report and it certainly isn’t a cut price report.

However, it does give parties some comfort that the next step in the litigation is supported by expert advice and is not throwing good money after bad. Conversely, if the case is hopeless we will say so.

The Forensic Lite service can be deployed in:-

a. matrimonial cases to assist the formulation of questions based on a party’s Form E
b. review of a single joint expert’s report to formulate questions to the expert
c. pre-litigation advice on valuation, negligence, damages before incurring significant costs
d. self contained areas such as tax impact assessments of alternative settlement proposals

If you have cases that would benefit from expert advice but your clients are reluctant to board the train then Forensic Lite may be of interest. Please contact Leigh Dudley, on 0121 711 2468 or lmdudley@primeforensic.co.uk.