Honorary Fellowship is the highest recognition that EWI can give to a person of eminence who has rendered exceptional services to the expert witness community.

It can sometimes be awarded to members of the community as a reflection of the respect and regard of their colleagues for a particularly important contribution over a long period of time. It is also the means by which EWI can recognise those people who are not expert witnesses but have supported and contributed to the development and profile of the community.

At the Sir Michael Davies Lecture on the 15th October, the EWI honoured three exceptional individuals.

 

David Cowan

David Cowan is recognized as one of the UK’s leading Accommodation Expert Witnesses advising the High Court on the accommodation needs of disabled people. He founded Cowan Architects in 1983 and was an early pioneer within the disability housing sector before being one of the first people in the UK to be instructed as an Accommodation Expert Witness on a High Court litigation case. As one of the first Accommodation Experts, David set the standard for others to follow with his rigorous and impartial approach.

David has been instrumental in developing the profession, including:

• David was a member of a working party assessing alternatives to the Roberts & Johnston judgment as a formula for house purchase in short life expectancy cases. This committee prepared a detailed report which was incorporated in submissions to the Civil Justice Committee.
• He has presented seminars on the effects of the later judgment in the case of Swift v Carpenter in which the Supreme Court updated the principles set out in the House of Lords decision in Roberts v Johnstone.

David has been instrumental in raising the profile of the Accommodation Expert Witnesses in the UK and establishing the professional standard expected. Sharing his deep understanding, knowledge and approach, he has mentored and provided support for 13 new accommodation experts to enter the industry within what is a relatively small pool of established experts in the United Kingdom (approximately 40 in total).

David has also had a successful career as an Architect spanning five decades. With a focus on designing for people with disabilities and a passion for the conservation of our historic built environment, he has successfully designed and delivered accessible accommodation ranging from individual homes designed to meet the specific needs of an individual to large scale care homes and hospitals in Grade I Listed Buildings. Some of his more prominent accomplishments include:

• His association with the Department of Gerontology at Birmingham University set up by Professor Isaacs, who held the Chair of Geriatric Medicine. David has lectured at the University on designing for the elderly and published a number of articles on this subject.
• David worked for the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability in Putney where he was involved for 20 years both in the creation of new specialised units for complex illnesses such as Huntingtons as well as the refurbishment of the historic wards to provide modern solutions.
• David is also an experienced heritage and conservation architect and sat on Chichester DAC’s approved architects list from 1979 to 2021. He was the inspecting architect for a number of historically important buildings in the local area, including Scotney Castle, Standen and Batemans.

David was appointed Chairman of the Sussex Heritage Trust in September 2023 and has been a Trustee since 2019. The trust has been in operation since 1977 to protect and celebrate the architectural and natural heritage of Sussex. This includes recognizing outstanding conservation, restoration and new-build projects through the annual Sussex Heritage Trust Awards.

 

Leam Craig

Professor Craig is a distinguished clinical and forensic psychologist whose career has delivered substantial and sustained impact on the development, application, and integrity of psychological expert witness evidence within the legal system. Over nearly three decades, he has worked at the intersection of psychology, law, and public policy, shaping both individual case outcomes and the broader frameworks governing expert evidence.

A central element of his contribution is his extensive practice as an expert witness. He has produced over 2,000 expert reports and delivered oral evidence on more than 250 occasions across Crown, Family, Military Courts, Parole Boards, and Mental Health Review Tribunals. His work addresses complex and high-risk matters, including violence and child protection.  He clearly communicates complex psychological evidence, enabling informed judicial decisions and strengthening confidence in expert testimony.

His wider impact is reflected in sustained contributions to national guidance and regulation of expert witness practice.  As Chair of the British Psychological Society’s Expert Witness Advisory Group (2016–2023), he led the development of six core guidance documents covering competence, ethics, report writing, and remote assessment.  These documents provide a structured framework for psychologists acting as experts and are now used to guide professional conduct across jurisdictions.  He contributed to establishing the BPS Register of Expert Witnesses, introducing a formal mechanism for quality assurance and improving transparency in how experts are identified and instructed.

He was commissioned by the Ministry of Justice (2014-2015) to lead research on the use of experts in family law, shaping understanding of how expert evidence is commissioned and applied in court proceedings.  He co-authored authoritative guidance with the Family Justice Council (2022 & 2023), now embedded within family court practice and cited in senior judicial decisions.  His joint work with the Family Justice Council and the British Psychological Society has standardised expectations for psychological experts in family proceedings. This guidance has been cited in senior judicial decisions, including by the President of the Family Division, indicating its integration into legal reasoning and practice.

He was commissioned by the Government Legal Department (2019) to produce guidance on remote psychological assessments, establishing an evidential framework adopted by the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), ensuring evidential integrity in evolving modes of assessment.  

His role in shaping policy is further evidenced by participation in cross-party Parliamentary roundtables with Ministers on the use of psychological expert witnesses in family law. These engagements provided direct input into policy discussions on the role, reliability, and oversight of expert evidence, and reflect recognition of his expertise at national level.

His work has had profound impact in individual cases, including involvement in miscarriage of justice review. His expert contribution to a CCRC (2019-2022) investigation led to the successful appeal and quashing of a double murder conviction nearly two decades after the original trial.  This exemplifies the critical role of high-quality psychological expertise in identifying evidential shortcomings and safeguarding the fairness of legal outcomes.  He has also influenced appellate decisions internationally, including in the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal.

Academically, he has strengthened the evidential foundations of forensic psychology expert witness practices through numerous influential texts on psychology and law and effective expert witness evidence. More recent works include, Psychology and the Law: Case studies of expert witnesses (2024) and Expert Evidence: A Practitioner’s Guide to Effective Evidence (in press). These works, in collaboration with members of the judiciary and legal scholars, have become core references within both psychological practice within legal contexts.

 

Kathryn Newns

Kathryn Newns has been at the forefront of raising the profile of expert witness work within professional psychology in many ways. She has created (and acts in an admin role) a professional practice closed social network group, which allows a supportive forum for HCPC registered psychologists working in medico legal practice to discuss the challenges of expert witness work in a safe and supportive space, whilst consistently maintaining and reinforcing the court responsibilities and standards of this role. From her creation, this social media group has developed into 595 members.

As part of her role on the board of EWI Kathryn has promoted EWI certification process within the HCPC psychology professions and supports people to achieve this qualification. She has been a champion of the importance of the certification programme with the psychology professions and promotes this consistently as the standard of governance and excellence for HCPC registered psychologist to become skilled and understand their roles within the court environment. Thus, enhancing both the profile of the EWI and of expert witness work within the psychological professions.

Kathryn is the founding developer of expert insight, which is a professional resource and support platform for Registered Psychologists working as expert witnesses for the civil and family courts. The group offers a range of membership structures that are suitable for both beginners and seasoned professionals again demonstrating her dedication to bringing new expert witnesses into the court processes whilst supporting those with more experience, thus ensuring ongoing mentorship and CPD within this specialist forum.

Further to these areas of increasing awareness and skills within professional psychology to the expert witness world she is a highly skilled and well-respected expert witness clinical psychologist with her own case load of complex clinical civil court cases involving complex pain and specialising in ensuring claimants with learning disabilities and autism are understood through the court processes. Through her own excellent clinical skills and professionalism, she has gained a reputation as an excellent clinical psychology expert witness which is testament to the positive impact she has had on the expert witness profession.

Her impact on the profession is evident in the standards she promotes, the community she has helped build, and the number of psychologists she has supported into or through expert witness roles. I think she has made a meaningful contribution to the development of a more skilled, reflective, and ethically grounded expert witness workforce.