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.

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.