One standard. Four kinds of instruction.
Who instructs us changes what must be supplied and how the work is scoped. It does not change the duty: independent evidence, written so a decision-maker can follow it, test it, and give it weight.
Appeals, judicial review, and first-instance claims where expert evidence is directed.
You send the refusal, the directions, and the deadline.
The report is a filing document, not a briefing note. It must answer the issues your forum has directed, in the form that forum expects, by the date the timetable requires — and it must survive the questions that will be put to it.
What you get
A report built to the forum, not a template
Structure, declarations, and disclosure follow the practice of the court or tribunal where the report will be filed — FRCP 26(a)(2)(B) form where US federal disclosure applies, IRB disclosure practice, UK IAC / CPR–FPR practice, ART merits-review framing, UNHCR RSD standards, or Article 3 ECHR risk assessment.
An expert who can stand behind the written evidence
The person named on the report is available for clarification, a supplementary opinion, or oral evidence if the case moves to hearing. The written report is drafted so that oral evidence can be given from it without rewriting the case theory.
Limits stated before they are tested
Where the country material is thin, contested, or silent on a directed question, the report says so on its face. That is what keeps the rest of the opinion usable under challenge.
What you must supply
Forum, issues, and deadline
Where the report will be filed, the questions it must answer, and the date it is needed by — including any case-management directions that fix format or length.
The refusal and the materials already in play
The decision under challenge, any country guidance or National Documentation Package passages relied on, and the parts of the account the report is asked to address. Case identifiers are not required at enquiry stage.
What is out of scope
Questions you do not want answered, materials that must not be seen, and any joint-instruction terms. Scope is confirmed in writing before work starts.
Legal aid, grant-funded casework, and defined-scope letters.
Scope set to the funding available — without lowering the evidence.
NGO instructions often need a usable document inside a fixed budget. We agree what the document will be before work starts, and we will decline a scope that cannot be answered properly for the fee on offer rather than produce a report that will not hold.
What you get
Proportionate documents at every budget size
A full expert witness report where the case turns on it; a country condition note or signed expert letter where a narrower product is enough. The sourcing discipline does not change with the fee.
Transparent limitations for funders and courts
What the instruction covered, what was excluded for cost or time, and what the available evidence cannot establish — written so a grant officer and a tribunal can both follow it.
What you must supply
The protection question and the available budget
The claimant profile, the country and ground, and whether the instruction can support a full report, a focused letter, or a country note. We will say if the budget cannot carry the question properly.
Materials already gathered by caseworkers
Statements, prior country research, and any government guidance already in the file — so the report does not duplicate work or miss what has already been tested.
Single joint experts and tribunal-appointed instructions.
Neutral as to outcome. Clear as to method.
When the instruction comes from the forum, or from both parties jointly, the report must read as evidence for the decision-maker — not as material prepared for one side of the file. Independence is written into the engagement, the methodology, and the face of the document.
What you get
Independence structured into the instruction
Accepted as a single joint expert or tribunal-appointed expert on terms that keep the duty to the forum, not to either party. Outcome interest is excluded from the engagement letter.
A report that identifies its own boundaries
Sources, assumptions, and the questions that fall outside expertise are set out so the decision-maker can give the opinion the weight it deserves — including none, where the evidence does not reach.
What you must supply
The directed questions and the procedural frame
The issues the expert is appointed to address, the standard of the forum, disclosure deadlines, and whether the appointment is joint, tribunal-led, or party-instructed with a duty statement.
The core materials both sides have seen
The claim record, country packages, and any prior expert evidence the opinion must take into account — so the report does not rest on a private file.
Plain language. Confidential. No work until terms are agreed.
Help with an expert report for your case
You may need an expert report to explain conditions in your country, why part of your account may have been misunderstood, or what risk you would face on return. We will explain what a report can and cannot do before anything is agreed — in plain language, and without asking for more personal detail than we need.
What you get
A plain-language explanation before any fee
What an expert report can show, what only a lawyer or the tribunal can decide, and whether your case is one where expert evidence is likely to help. Nothing you send creates an instruction until scope and fees are agreed in writing.
Confidential handling from first contact
Enquiries are not shared with immigration authorities or government bodies. We ask only for what is needed to say whether we can help.
What you should tell us
Your country, your situation, and your deadline if you have one
You do not need to send a full statement at the first contact. A short account of why you think an expert report might help is enough to start.
Whether you have a representative
If a lawyer or NGO is already acting for you, it is usually better that they instruct us. If you are acting for yourself, say so — we will explain the next steps in plain language.
Questions before you instruct
- Does the evidential standard change depending on who instructs?
- No. The forum where the report will be filed sets the standard. Who instructs — a law firm, an NGO, a tribunal, or an individual — changes the scope and the budget, not the sourcing discipline or the duty to the decision-maker.
- What must I send before you can quote?
- The forum, the country, the issues the report must address, and the date it is needed by. Case identifiers and a full brief are not required at enquiry stage. We reply within one working day with the expert, the format, and the fee — or with a clear decline.
- Can you accept a single joint or tribunal-appointed instruction?
- Yes. Those instructions are accepted on written terms that keep the expert's duty to the tribunal or court. We will not accept an appointment that requires advocacy for either party's outcome.
Tell us who is instructing, and where it will be filed.
We reply within one working day with the expert, the format, and the fee — or with a clear reason we cannot take the instruction.