On July 2, Specht Böhm’s Vienna office hosted a delegation from the Turkish Ministry of Justice as part of a study visit organized by the “German Foundation for international legal cooperation” (IRZ) in the framework of the EU project „Improved Court Expert System in Turkey“.  Mr. Yüksel Hiz, the Deputy Undersecretary of the Turkish Ministry of Justice headed the delegation composed of aVppr. 15 high ranking judges, representatives of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations, High Council of Judges and Prosecutors, Turkish Forensic Institute and academics. Dr. Arthur Schuschnigg of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce (WKÖ) contributed to the discussions from a commercial viewpoint.

The Austrian lawyers Erhard Böhm, Ingo Braun, Paul Proksch, Ceyda Akbal Schwimann from our Firm’s Vienna office and Serkan Akman discussed various issues with the delegation stemming from the appointment of court experts, their qualification and competence as well as their criminal liability, the role and influence of court experts on proceedings and their outcome, and the usage of expert witnesses in arbitration proceedings. A special focus was given to the difference in percentage of the lawsuits referred to court experts in Austria (25%) and in Turkey (80%) and the reasons for such difference. Finally the necessity to develop a reliable and cost-effective legal infrastructure to increase the speed, reliability and quality of the court expert system was emphasized.