Listen to Derek Nelson, Partner, speak at the International Construction Claims and ADR Conference
29th March 2023
Derek Nelson, Partner & Head of Expert Services, Europe at HKA, joined a panel of experts at the International Construction Claims and ADR Conference in Dubai in November 2022 who discussed Expert Evidence in Construction Disputes – Problems and Safeguards.
View the videos below to see the answers Derek provided to the prompted question.
Is the characterisation of experts as “hired guns” justified, and to the extent that it is, what safeguards can be put in place to ensure an experts’ independence?
Do you think anything like the IBA guidelines, but for experts, would be helpful?
The issue of late appointments. Parties frequently appoint experts later in proceedings. What types of problems does that approach give rise to?
Does the expert become more of an expert or less as they become more entrenched in the role?
What types of safeguards can be put in place to ensure that experts give a full range of opinion on what they’ve been asked to give their expertise on?
Often various methodologies that can be applied to solve a problem can produce different results and that can increase costs. What type of steps can parties, lawyers, tribunals and experts take to try to reduce that?
Derek is a Fellow and Immediate Past Chairman of The Academy of Experts. He has acted as an expert determinator, adjudicator, mediator and is a panel member with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators’ Business Arbitration Scheme (BAS) with extensive experience as an independent expert witness in both international arbitrations and litigation.
He is a chartered quantity surveyor, a chartered engineering surveyor and commercial manager.
Derek is both an accredited and certified expert witness, an accredited mediator and an accredited expert determinator. His experience covers over 40 years in construction and engineering. Derek has been appointed in the role of independent expert witness on over 75 occasions, addressing issues in a combination of delay, quantum and disruption, and has testified on over 20 occasions in both court and arbitration proceedings on such matters, including giving concurrent evidence.
