Senior Associate Membership
“An Associate Member shall be an individual who is qualified in his own profession or calling and interested in giving expert opinion and/or evidence and is seeking to qualify as a Full Member and who can demonstrate appropriate experience.”

This is an application for Senior Associate of The Academy of Experts, approval of which will entitle the successful applicant to use the post-nominal letters ‘SAAE’. It is available for those who have had experience of assisting in expert work and is distinguished from Associate members who have an interest in expert work but lack practical experience to be a Practising Associate Member.

Professional Details
Please provide details and dates of academic and professional qualifications; professional training; membership of professional bodies and membership of learned societies.

Areas of Expertise
All areas in which the applicant is qualified and is applying to be considered able to give Expert opinion.
Report Experience

The reports may be identified by subject matter, project name, or scope of expert’s instructions. The appointed expert must be formally accredited to practise as an expert. Please provide details of the expert’s accreditation.

Synopsis of Expert Work and Experience
This part of the application is your opportunity to describe your work and experience in the preparation of expert reports and/or acting as expert and/or assisting an accredited expert. This requirement is in addition to providing a current Curriculum Vitae.

There is no prescribed format, nor is there any restriction on length of your submission. The Academy of Experts Vetting Committee will assess your competencies to be a Practising Associate Member of The Academy of Experts based on the detail you provide in your synopsis and any other supporting material.

There are three principal areas in which you need to illustrate your competencies:

1. Communication skills, both in writing and orally
2. Identifying the key issues upon which the expert report is based
3. Evaluating the Evidence

If appropriate, you may wish to include any experience you have in attending sessions where expert evidence has been given or experts have been cross-examined.

You should identify how reports in which you have assisted have been Quality Assured so that they comply with all appropriate Rules and Guidance Notes.

You should include examples of your work with your submission. However, if Referee 1 is a Practising Member or Fellow of the Academy of Experts, it is not obligatory that you should include examples of your work, although it is still encouraged. The Vetting Committee will need to be satisfied that you have demonstrated that you have the necessary practical experience to be a Practising Associate Member (AMAE).

Referees
The names of three individuals for whom the applicant has undertaken Expert work should be given.

Your first referee must be an accredited Practising Expert. Please identify the expert organisation by whom your referee is accredited and their membership number. Your second and third referees may be solicitors/lawyers or other professionals who are able to comment on your work in assisting an expert and are able to support your application. If required, please refer to The Academy for further guidance.

Note: The application will not be proceeded with until references have been obtained.

Enclosures

1. Your CV should stress the aspects of your work in addition to the Expert work. It should be confined to factual material.
2. Please give full details of all Expert work undertaken in the last three years.
   The majority of Expert evidence is written but if you have given oral evidence please supply details. The approximate overall duration of the trial and the period during which you were in the box should be stated for each appearance.
3. All courses or CPD events involving Expert work should be stated. If courses are less than a full day they should be stated as ¼, ½, or ¾ day as applicable. The subject matter of the course should emphasise its relevance to Expert work. The organisation which provided the course should be given and when the course is organised by your employer the letters IH (in-house) should be used.
4. Applicants may enclose a representative report that they have either written themselves or where they have been a named assistant. These will be treated in strict confidence by all involved in the vetting process and may be suitably anonymised or redacted. The report should not be relevant to any active dispute. The report can be supplied in electronic format and may be destroyed upon completion of the vetting procedure. You should give as one of your referees the person for whom the report was prepared.
5. Applications should contain copies of certificates for all relevant Academic and Professional qualifications.
6. List all publications of note (including co-authorship).
7. A passport style photograph should accompany the application.

Data Protection
Your information will be held by The Academy who is the data controller and will be processed by our partner organisation ARA Conference Services (ARACS) on our behalf. We will use your personal information to administer your membership and provide services and information to you in that connection. As part of the application process, we will pass your information to our assessors (who are usually Academy members who assess and verify new membership applications for suitability against our membership criteria – where the assessor is not an Academy member, we will ensure they are carefully selected, checked and bound by sufficient confidentiality restrictions) who will consider your application on our behalf. For more information on how we use your personal information, please see our Privacy Notice (available from our website or the office).

You understand that as part of your membership with The Academy you will benefit from our referrals service for Expert Witness work. We process your data for the purposes of referrals on the basis of our contractual relationship with you. Information will not be made available to third parties via our website or online Expert Search function unless you sign up for our ExpertSearch service.

If you wish your personal information (which will include your name, contact details and areas of expertise and qualifications) to be made available to third parties via our website/online ExpertSearch service in connection with The Academy’s internet register for Expert Witness work referrals, please sign up to our ExpertSearch service.

We may also use your information for marketing purposes. We may contact you with promotional offers of goods or services (including Academy Events, Services and Training) which may be of interest to you. We may send you information by postal mail or contact you via live telephone call based on our legitimate interests.

Please note that if you do not tick the box (Section 5) we will not be able to send you any of The Academy’s events including training information, technical meetings and social functions via email however you will continue to receive such offers by post or we may contact you by live call.

Insurance
All successful applicants will be required to contribute to the Academy’s Group Professional Indemnity Insurance Policy subject to certain exclusions. An invoice for your contribution will be issued to you on successful admission to The Academy.

Unless otherwise agreed exclusions include, but are not limited to, Applicants:

1. living or practising in North America
2. who know that they are or might be the subject of a current or future claim

Further details about the policy are available from The Academy’s Brokers: CBC (UK) Ltd, Mansell Court, 69 Mansell Street, London, E1 8AN Tel: 020 7265 5600.

Undertaking & Declaration
Any reference to ‘the rules’ means: the Constitution of The Academy of Experts.

1. The time taken for the assessment is generally about 3 months. Your application will be acknowledged. Thereafter you will not be advised of its progress unless there are matters which require action. Telephone enquiries are likely to extend the period required as they usually  disrupt the sequence of the assessment.
2. Failure to complete the application as required will delay the application.
3. Applicants are advised to warn their referees that a request will be coming from the Academy, and ask them to deal with them promptly. Applications will not be assessed until the references have been received.

Applications will not be processed until the first year’s subscription and non-refundable vetting fee is paid.

Membership renewal is on 1st March commencing the first year following acceptance as a member. Since an application may be made mid-year the first year’s subscription is a special discounted rate.

VAT receipts where appropriate will be issued. Fifty percent of the membership subscription is Zero Rated for VAT.

Direct Debit
Following the initial application it is expected that payment for subsequent year’s subscriptions will be by direct debit. A small surcharge is made for annual renewal fees which are not paid by direct debit.