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.

Referees
The names of three persons, preferably Lawyers, for whom the applicant has undertaken Expert work should be given. If you do not have three Lawyers who are able to act as referees please provide a similar alternative giving the capacity in which you were instructed – or alternatively contact The Academy for further guidance.

One of the referees should be the person for whom the report submitted with the application was prepared.
Note: The application will not be proceeded with until references have been obtained.

Full Member Application
Please note that those applying for Full Member may, at the discretion of the Membership Vetting Committee, be granted Associate Membership where it is judged that they do not have sufficient appropriate experience for Full Membership.

Although preferable it is not a requirement for Full Membership to have given oral evidence in court or tribunal.

Membership Fees
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.

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.

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 synopsis should show the capacity and forum in which you were instructed (eg expert adviser/expert adviser in adjudication/ arbitration/litigation).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 must enclose a representative report. These will be treated in strict confidence by all involved in the vetting process but should be suitably anonymised or redacted where necessary or appropriate. The report should not be relevant to any active dispute. Applicants are reminded that reports prepared for some forums will remain confidential and may require the parties consent to disclose – the submission of a report will be taken that appropriate consent has been given. The report can be supplied in electronic format and may be destroyed upon completion of the vetting procedure. The person for whom the submitted report was prepared should be one of your referees.
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.

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