Court reports · digital forensics in Cardiff
Under CPR Part 35 an expert works for the court before anyone else — before the client, before the solicitor, before whoever is paying. The solicitors and insurers who instruct us, in Cardiff and across South Wales, have all seen what a partisan report does under pressure: it folds as soon as somebody competent tests it. Our reports begin from that rule.
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| Kind of report | Where it is used | What goes in it |
|---|---|---|
| A plain findings report | Early advice, HR matters, board-level decisions | The findings, how we reached them, and what they mean — in plain words |
| A loss-claim or insurance report | When cause, extent and who pays are disputed | Findings, exhibits and how the loss came about |
| A report under CPR Part 35 | Civil litigation, England and Wales | Duty to the court up front, your instructions recorded, the whole method, and signed declarations of truth and compliance |
| A report under CrimPR Part 19 | Matters heading for a criminal court | The criminal version: qualifications, the material bearing on reliability, and credibility declared |
| A single joint expert | Where the two sides instruct one examiner between them | One report, worded the same for both, with the duty running over their heads to the court |
It starts with a private conversation, and that costs nothing. Three things shape everything after it: what has happened, where it reaches — which machines, which accounts — and what the evidence needs to establish. Those answers set the scope. The scope sets the single written price, quoted before a device is touched.
Your letter of instruction is summarised in the report, in our words. Beside it sits anything bearing on our credibility — starting with the fact that this is an independent lab without accreditation. Better on the page at the outset than prised out of us under cross-examination.
Every step is done, and written down, as though the examiner on the other side were already reading it — hunting for the loose joint, which is what they are paid to do. Conclusions do not lean towards whoever is paying.
The forum sets the format — CPR Part 35 in civil matters, CrimPR Part 19 in criminal ones. Both routes give you the method on paper, the exhibits, a continuity record without a break in it, and the two declarations. Conclusions lead; the technical detail sits in an annex at the back.
A report is only worth what someone else can check, so it never travels alone. Out go the exhibits, the source files, the continuity log, every hash value, and the notes made at the bench. An expert instructed against you can walk it again and reach the same place.
Ask any expert you are weighing up this one question: the criminal practice directions have expected, ever since April 2019, that anything capable of undermining an expert's reliability is disclosed, and the absence of an accreditation is offered as an example. Kept quiet, the problem stops being theirs and becomes yours. Ours is declared on page one of every report we send out.
Two firms, one shared folder, and two sets of accounts that would not match. The image showed neither copy had been left untouched, and the timeline made that impossible to dispute. It was over inside a month.
A findings report covers two things: what we found, and the route we took to it. A court report carries all of that plus the overriding duty, a summary of your instructions, the whole method and exhibit history, signed statements of truth and compliance, and every point an opponent might raise about the expert.
The court, whoever pays the invoice. That duty sits above anything owed to the side that instructed us, and it is precisely that ranking which gives the report its value.
Yes. There is one report and one set of conclusions. Both parties receive it at the same moment, and neither gets a preview or a chance to shape the wording.
The rules require it to be declared, so we put it near the front rather than in small print at the back. What a court tests is the method, and that is where an opinion earns its weight. Reports come apart when they overreach, not when a certificate is absent.
While that recorder keeps writing, the clip you need is being covered over — and your deadline has not moved. Book it in. The first look is free, and it stays private.