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How to boost your defence case with end-to-end casework support
  • Nov 24, 2022
  • Latest Journal

Expert witness reports can be the keystone on which your case rests. Yet finding and managing niche or multiple expert witnesses is time-consuming and adds pressure to an already packed schedule. Outsourcing legal administration is the key to unlocking more capacity for other casework priorities. Helping you make the most of your time and providing optimum client service.

But where can you rapidly find the right forensic expert witnesses? And what should you be looking for when seeking high-calibre casework support?

Introducing Forensic Access
For over 36 years, Forensic Access has connected defence solicitors with the same high-quality forensic services as their prosecution counterparts. Today, Forensic Access has an enormous network of experts, enabling them to provide defence teams with every type of forensic science support available. Including  toxicology, digital forensics, blood pattern analysis  and DNA. Plus firearms and ballistics, fingerprints, ecology forensics, psychology and psychiatry.

A large part of Forensic Access' work is the provision of single, multiple, niche and multidisciplinary expert witnesses. With an extensive network of reliable  experts, the right expert witness can almost always be found.

But sourcing the right people is just the tip of the expert witness iceberg. And most defence barristers and solicitors want more support to circumnavigate the mass that lurks below the surface. Because they know briefing, contracting and managing expert witnesses takes a significant amount of time. Time that can be better spent elsewhere.

Having witnessed solicitors struggle to manage this additional workload, Forensic Access created the role of Casework Manager to relieve the pressure.

How Casework Managers lighten your workload
Following a tried and tested approach to the end-to-end management of expert witnesses, Casework  Managers act as an extension of a defence team by:

1. Gaining a detailed understanding of the solicitor's needs.

2. Swiftly briefing a number of experts on the case with the aim of finding the most suitable people for the job.

3. Providing two quotes from two different experts (in line with the Legal Aid Agency’s (LAA) requirements) and helping draft justifications for the LAA.
    
4. Handling case materials to ensure the right experts have the right materials at the right time.
    
5. Ensuring regular updates are provided so everyone knows what stage the case is at.
    
6. Accurately translating scientific terminology into plain English making it quick and easy to understand the expert's report.
    
7. Quality checking reports.
    
8. Making sure deadlines are met and managing costs.

With a focused set of customers and specialist areas of work, Forensic Access' Casework Managers have the capacity and know-how to provide high levels of support to each client. They also build strong relationships by working alongside each defence team throughout their case. This allows detailed case knowledge to be developed and ensures solicitors only have to communicate information once.

Whether they're managing one or multiple experts, Forensic Access' Casework Managers share information, book case review meetings and keep everyone on track. And, when experts are required at the last minute, the team manages its caseload and prioritises pressing cases so they're completed to tight deadlines.

While you can't create more time, you can acquire it. By working with Forensic Access and its specialist Casework Managers.

For a free initial expert witness consultation and quote with tailored advice on how we can support your case, contact our casework team on 01235 774870 or at science@forensic-access.co.uk.
www.forensic-access.co.uk