How does it work?
MAEP is incredibly easy to use.
Once a case is concluded and contacts for feedback are confirmed, users can generate automated emails to the professionals involved in their case, inviting them to provide feedback anonymously, by completing a short, online questionnaire. The user dashboard manages emailed invitations for feedback and tracks the number of responses.
Invited contacts are sent weekly reminders and their participation is voluntary. See the example overleaf.
Feedback can be sought from the instructing lawyer, the instructing party’s counsel, the adverse party or parties’ lawyers and counsel, other experts, including the expert or experts instructed by the adverse party or parties and, if the case proceeds to a hearing or trial, the judge or tribunal chair.
Feedback is provided on up to eight domains of expert witness practice:
Professionalism
Ethics
Skills
Reliability of opinion
Presentation of opinion/report
Understanding of law, procedure and rules of evidence
Oral testimony
Business manners and affairs
For each of the eight domains there are examples of ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ features to guide respondents. On each domain the expert is rated between 1 (extremely unsatisfactory) and 6 (excels at standards).
Respondents can also provide ‘free text’ comments as to ‘What you like about this expert’s practice’, ‘What you do not like about this expert’s practice’ and ‘What you would like this expert to do in order to improve their practice’. An example of the questionnaire is shown below.
Once enough feedback has been collected, subscribers can generate their individual Case Report or a Cumulative Report, which combines feedback from multiple cases over a set period of time.
A minimum of two responses are required for Case Reports, and four responses for Cumulative Reports. Subscribers can collect feedback on an unlimited number of cases and generate as many reports as they wish at no extra cost.
Results are summarised in a ‘radar chart’ and also presented in tabular form, where the expert’s self-ratings are compared to ratings from their chosen contacts. ‘Free text’ comments on the expert’s strengths and areas for improvement are presented to help contextualise these scores.
The report provides an excellent resource for guiding personal and professional development, as well as having the ability to provide future clients with reliable, robust feedback on the expert's performance.
Click the image below to see an example report.
