I had a good chat with an expert on Friday.  I came away from it thinking that he had realized that litigation is genertally not the aswer to dealing with issues between professionals.  If the people are reasonable, things can be resolved.  If they are not reasonable, and now I take an attorneys perspective and say not all experts are, don't brief them in the first place - or stop doing so now.

I don't agree with much of what Robert Koch stated in his letter, but I am not sure a public debate will suit any purpose when I am not a party to any of the litigation in any event.  Where he is certainly wrong is his understanding of the Law Society rules.  Paying an expert in a reasonable time, in terms of our rules, is in a reasonable time after you are paid - not a reasonable time of when the expert did the work!  Its the same rule that applies to clients - explain your fees within a reasonable time of the matter being finalized, which only occurs once the bill of costs has been paid.  Reasonable, in terms of the Law Society normally means 30 days, and essentially that gives you a month to pay a client after the money has been deposited to your account,  That, with many aggressive clients, is probably too long, but thats how long you do have to be acting "reasonably".