InBrief

In his keynote speech�delivered yesterday at�the Law Institute of Victoria's Medicine and the Law Conference, the Hon Justice Peter McClellan�argued�in favour of allowing�concurrent evidence. It was, he said "a modification to the adversarial system, but one which is worth making".

Justice McClellan defined concurrent evidence as "a discussion chaired by the judge in which the various experts, the parties, advocates and the judge engage in an endeavour to identify the issues and arrive where possible at a common resolution of them. In relation to the issues where agreement is not possible a structured discussion, with the judge as chairperson, allows the experts to give their opinions without constraint by the advocates in a forum which enables them to respond directly to each other".

A copy of the speech may be obtained from the Supreme Court web site>

30 November 2007