Digital evidence · reports drafted for London courts
A report earns its fee by what it survives. Someone across the table has been paid to look for a loose thread, and a document written to keep its instructing party happy will not see out the morning. The order of loyalty is fixed by CPR Part 35 before anybody starts — court above client, solicitor and fee note alike — and PD35 fills in the shape. A criminal instruction runs instead to Part 19 under the Criminal Procedure Rules 2025, which superseded the 2020 set. Both forums want the same furniture: method written out, an exhibit history, a pair of declarations, and the accreditation position put at the top instead of left there for the other side to find. No UKAS schedule stands here, and no ISO/IEC 17025 certificate. For civil, family, employment and insurance instructions the rules require neither: nowhere but criminal proceedings in England and Wales does the Regulator's statutory Code reach, DIG 100 covering capture and DIG 300 examination. So on a criminal matter, whether we can take it is settled on the first call and not at trial. London solicitors and insurers get the same document, at a figure agreed first, from £800 + VAT.
Talk it over with an engineer, in confidence
0203 0868633
| Which of them | What it is there for | What sits inside it |
|---|---|---|
| A stand-alone findings report | Early advice, an HR decision, a question at board level | What the machine held, the way that was established, and what follows from it — plainly put |
| A report on a claim under a policy | Where cause, extent or liability is in dispute | Findings, exhibits, and the cause of the damage |
| An expert's report under CPR Part 35 | A civil claim in England or Wales | Duty at the head, instructions in substance, method entire, and the two signed statements — truth and compliance |
| An expert's report under CrimPR Part 19 | Matters on their way to a criminal court | Qualifications, the material by which a bench judges reliability, credibility declared — and the Code's scope settled before acceptance |
| A report from a single joint expert | One examiner, instructed by both parties | A single report served on both sides together, the duty running straight past the pair of them to the court |
Forensic instructions start at £800 + VAT, and where a particular job lands within that depends on scope — which is what the first conversation is for: the dates and events in dispute, the machines and accounts in play, and what has to be shown. That conversation is not charged for, and no work that costs you anything begins before the written figure reaches you.
CPR 35.10 puts the substance of the instructions inside the report, and privilege does not shield that summary. Alongside it goes whatever bears on credibility, starting with the plainest item available: an independent laboratory that holds no accreditation at all. It reads far better on page one than it does levered out of a witness in the box.
Every step is carried out, and recorded, as though the examiner opposite were already hunting the weak point — which is exactly what they have been instructed to do. No conclusion here leans toward whoever settles the invoice.
Format follows forum. Civil work goes into the shape CPR Part 35 and PD35 lay down; criminal work into Part 19 under the Criminal Procedure Rules 2025, which superseded the 2020 set. Constant throughout: the method in writing, the exhibits, custody and dates carrying no gap, and both declarations. Conclusions come first; technical detail is annexed.
Hand the other side a finding they have no way of testing and the argument is theirs. So the bundle carries the lot: every exhibit numbered, every hash, handovers dated and countersigned, the image behind each conclusion, and the notes written up at the bench while the work went on. Repeat the steps and the result does not move.
One question worth asking every expert you shortlist: under Part 19 an expert has to declare anything a court could fairly count against credibility, and an unheld accreditation is put in that class by CPS guidance. Say nothing and it turns into the client's problem at the worst imaginable moment. Here it stands on page one, above the method that carries it.
One shared folder, two firms, and one set of accounts in two versions that nobody could reconcile. A forensic image of each machine showed which edit had been made on which side, and in what order — and the order settled it. The dispute closed within the month.
A findings report answers two questions: what the machine held, and by what route it was shown to have held it. A court report carries both and adds what the rules insist on — an exhibit history running from the day it arrived to the day it went back, the method, your instructions in substance, the duty owed to the court, a pair of statements requiring signature, and whatever the opposing side might put to the expert.
The court's. Who paid makes no difference to that. The obligation ranks above anything owed to the instructing party, and it is that ranking which gives the document any standing in front of a judge at all.
Yes. A single report with a single set of conclusions, served on both parties in the same moment. Neither of them sees a draft beforehand, and neither moves the wording.
Declaring it is required, so it sits at the head of page one. Courts give weight to method, which is where this bench puts the work. Reports fall over when they claim more than their evidence carries; no certificate saves those. Criminal matters differ: the Regulator's Code sets ISO/IEC 17025 under DIG 100 and DIG 300, so whether yours is one we can take is settled up front.
Whatever holds the evidence, take it off power before anything else — a recorder that is still running overwrites its own oldest material, hour by hour. Send it to us after that. Looking costs nothing; recorder work is £400 + VAT and forensic instructions start at £800 + VAT, both settled in writing beforehand. What sits on that disk stays here.