Originally from Arbitration Law of Turkey: Practice and Procedure

CHAPTER 13

EXPERTS

13.1 THE APPOINTMENT OF AN EXPERT

Principally, expert witnesses give an expert opinion in specialised areas of a case or dispute, which are not ordinarily within the knowledge or competence of the arbitrators. Thus the role and duty of an expert witness is to assist the court or tribunal in arriving at the true facts and position regarding technical issues within his area of expertise.

In Turkish Court practice it is very common that the Court appoints experts to examine issues related to the dispute1. Similarly, in Turkish domestic arbitration practice, experts are appointed by the sole arbitrator or arbitral tribunal to aid them in particular issues in order for them to come to their decision. In domestic arbitration appointing expert for the technical matters is very common2 The tribunal appointed experts focus on assisting the tribunal and are neutral. In the domestic arbitration practice party appointed experts are less common than arbitrator appointed (neutral) experts. However, there is nothing to hinder a party from presenting an expert opinion if it feels the arbitrators will benefit from the expert’s input.