Who appoints us

We accept appointments internationally, across the full chain of responsibility on a loss. Instructions may come directly from the insured, or from loss adjusters, lawyers, insurers or reinsurers, depending on which party is carrying control of the matter at the time of instruction.

We also accept appointments outside an insurance loss context, including instructions direct from manufacturers and operators on product recall investigations, product-failure root cause analysis, and similar engineering reviews.

How we can act

All members of our team can act in any of the following capacities:

• Primary investigator. We are appointed directly to lead the technical investigation and engage any supporting specialists.
• Reference expert. Where another party has appointed a local investigation team, we act as a reference expert guiding and reviewing that team's work on behalf of the appointing party. This is often the most cost-effective approach for international matters, providing independent technical oversight of a locally appointed team without the cost and delay of mobilising an additional investigator to site.
• Technical support to in-house engineering teams. We support manufacturers' and operators' internal engineering teams on matters outside an insurance loss context, including product recall investigations, product-failure root cause analysis, and similar engineering reviews.

Conflict check and 4-hour pre-appointment service

Before any engagement, please send us the details of the matter so we can complete an internal conflict check.

If there is no conflict of interest, our 4-hour pre-appointment service is available on request. This is a free service that offers the following benefits to your client:

• No up-front costs are incurred for our initial review.
• We are conflicted from accepting instructions from any other party on the same matter for the duration of the review.
• We will spend up to 4 hours reviewing the supplied documentary evidence and will develop a list of discussion points itemising the major presenting issues as we see them.
• At the conclusion of this review, we will be able to provide an estimate of our costs and time frames, and it will also provide a basis for you to construct your written instructions to us.

This service is offered by all members of our team, whether we are being considered as primary investigator or as reference expert.

Scope

A standard appointment covers:

1. Initial virtual meeting with the appointing party and any other parties already engaged on the matter, to understand the investigation plan and any access constraints (e.g. unsafe site, demolition order).
2. Comment on, and where necessary direct, the proposed investigation.
3. Determination of whether separate site visits are required, and agreement of timing.
4. Liaison with the investigating team and review of technical reports in draft prior to issue.
5. Reporting in the form appropriate to the matter (see below).

Reporting

Reporting is provided at the level required by the matter and the appointing party. Available formats include:

• Verbal briefings or telephone advice.
• File notes and short letter reports confirming review, agreement, or focused advice on a specific point.
• Brief technical reports summarising findings.
• Full technical reports addressing origin, cause and supporting analysis.
• Full court-compliant expert reports, prepared in accordance with the applicable expert witness code of conduct in the relevant jurisdiction.

In the reference-expert role, the default deliverable is a letter confirming review and agreement with the primary technical report, with any supplemental points. A separate full report is issued only where there is a material difference of opinion.

Instructing

Send an appointment enquiry email setting out the insured, the incident, the parties already engaged, and the requested scope. We will run the internal conflict check and, if clear, confirm we can accept and propose a date for the first virtual meeting. The 4-hour pre-appointment service is available on request.

Please let us know if you have any questions.