The Academy of Experts supports the Pledge for Equal Representation for Expert Witnesses.

The ERE Pledge was created in 2021 as the sister pledge to the Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge (ERA) in 2015. It aims to:

• Increase, on an equal opportunity basis, the number of women appearing as experts in order to achieve proportional representation and, eventually, full parity.
• Support hiring, mentoring, and promoting women experts.
• Create a coalition of supporters and advocates in the world of dispute resolution.
• Encourage women to aspire to be expert witnesses in their chosen professions.
• Give women who are, or aspire to be, expert witnesses, better opportunities to achieve their goals.
• Widen the pool of expert witnesses available and enhance the reputation of expert witnesses.

Discussing the launch, and the ERE Pledge’s raison d’être, Co-Founder Kathryn Britten commented:

“Having acted as an expert witness in major commercial disputes for almost 30 years, I have been consistently shocked by how few women have been appointed as my opposing experts – yet I have consistently seen very capable women producing excellent work as ‘Number 2’. We need to do something to ensure that talented women have the opportunity to act as expert witnesses in their own right.”

Co-Founder Isabel Kunsman added:

“As an expert witness, I am acutely aware of the need to do more in my own profession. There are many impressive women working in this field but the higher up the ranks you go, the lower the number of women you see, particularly among testifying expert witnesses.”

Academy Chairman, Derek Nelson FAE, notes:

Derek Nelson

“The Academy of Experts has always been an equal opportunities organisation promoting the development and selection of experts on merit. Our membership is a reflection of the wider expert community, and we recognise the talent of women that are, and that wish to act as, experts across various professional disciplines. We are proud to support and help address the challenges faced by women alongside supporters of the Equal Representation for Expert Witnesses Pledge (ERE) as a part of our commitment to ED&I”.

The Academy is represented on the ERE Global Steering Committee by Ben Johnson, Deputy Chairman.

Individuals can take the pledge in their own name. To find out more please go to www.expertwitnesspledge.com.