Friday, 14 March 2008

Members of the Bar at 23 Essex Street Chambers this week heard how best to select an Expert Witness, when to deploy them and the pitfalls for the unwary, in a seminar which forms part of an ongoing series for the legal profession about digital forensic evidence.

Seminar presenters including Andy Clark, Head of Forensics, Detica and an expert witness with more than ten year’s experience, discussed the surge in demand for digital forensics expertise in legal cases. They countered long-held stereotypes about expert witnesses and showed how the best in the field were now highly skilled, professional and first-rate communicators.

"The days of overly complex, technical explanations of computer evidence should be in the past," explained Clark. "The best Expert Witnesses know what clients, judge and jury need in terms of explanations to reach reasoned decisions. Of course the area is fraught with technical complexity, but there is no reason that a good Expert Witness can’t present an analysis of the evidence in clear and concise terms.

"The number of devices that hold potential evidence about the sequencing and nature of events is huge – and still growing. The skill is to obtain that information legitimately and reliably and to reveal its implications. It is all to easy to compromise valuable evidence by ignoring data collection guidelines and to misinterpret key events by not fully understanding the context and the mechanisms whereby data arrives and disappears from digital storage.

"Digital evidence is frequently providing new opportunities for resolving legal cases. At Detica Forensics we aim to guide legal professionals so that resources can be sensibly allocated to reach sound judgements."

The demand for Detica Forensics’ seminars on digital forensics continues to grow apace with the proliferation of static and mobile computer devices that can unlock key evidence. The next Seminar at 23 Essex Street Chambers is scheduled for late summer 2008.