Newsletter-21

210 NEWSLETTER 2016 Expert Witnesses in International Commercial Arbitration* Att. Mehves Erdem Introduction In international arbitration, a party may submit evidence in dif- ferent categories. Opinions of expert witnesses forms one of these categories. Expert opinions are mostly relied upon in complex cases that require special knowledge, such as construction, oil and gas, and insurance disputes, or in cases where damages quantum needs to be determined. Expert witnesses can be appointed both by the parties and the arbitral tribunals. Most of the rules of the institutions allow tribunals to appoint expert witnesses. In practice, it is common for the parties to appoint their own experts and present expert report. In cases where the tribunal chooses to appoint an expert, it should set the boundaries of the expert’s duty, and be careful not to delegate its own responsibilities to the expert. In some cases, the tribunal requests the parties to submit a list of experts over whom they can make a determination - this is most common in damages calculation. Common and civil law traditions have different views as to expert evidence. Civil law practitioners are more suspicious when it comes to expert witnesses. This arises from the fact that in civil law traditions, the ordinary practice is for the court to appoint an independent expert. Despite the different approaches in these two traditions, expert witnesses, today, depend on the subject matter of the dispute and specific circumstances, is considered to be a useful tool for both the parties and the tribunals. * Article of August 2016