Check a Victorian expert report against the expert code and the AI practice note
MaintainedLast reviewed
Key facts
- Human involvement
- YellowClose supervision
- How AI is used
- In a firm-controlled tool, extract the report's assumptions, qualifications, materials, reasoning and any statement about artificial intelligence, and set them against the brief. Do not rewrite the opinion.
- What the lawyer must review
- Check assumptions, materials, reasoning and any AI statement against the brief.
- Do not redraft the opinion. A Medical Panel answer is the Panel's.
- Confirm the expert code for the court: 2025 Supreme Court rules, or 2018 County Court rules.
Rules that apply
The document starts from the task name. Change it if this piece of work is different.
The work product
Forum. Victoria: an expert report for the Supreme Court, the County Court, or a Medical Panel referral
Produce. A table of assumptions, materials, reasoning and any AI statement, matched to the brief, for the lawyer to check.
Have ready. Letter of instruction; Draft expert report; The materials the expert was given; The court or Panel the report is for.
Example of the limit. Illustrative example: The report assumes a date of injury the brief did not give. The tool marks that assumption and the missing source. The lawyer decides whether to send a further question. The opinion is left as written.
Stop and hand it back when
- The check would require rewriting the opinion.
- The report or the underlying health records would have to go into a public tool.
Sources for this task were checked on 2026-10-23.
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Assistance | In a firm-controlled tool, extract the report's assumptions, qualifications, materials, reasoning and any statement about artificial intelligence, and set them against the brief. Do not rewrite the opinion. |
| Lawyer | Set the scope, supervise the work closely, verify every part relied on, resolve omissions and exceptions, and approve the exact output. |
Checklist
- Table each assumption, the material it rests on, and whether the brief asked for it.
- Identify the court. Supreme Court Practice Note SC GEN 25 footnote 2 names Form 44A of the Supreme Court (General Civil Procedure) Rules 2025. The County Court practice note footnote 2 names Form 44A of the County Court Civil Procedure Rules 2018. They are not the same form.
- If the report mentions a tool, record what it says. Verification is meaningful human control. One tool cannot confirm another. Original source material housed inside a tool may be used.
- Do not rewrite a Medical Panel opinion. The Panel gives a legally binding answer on a workers' compensation referral or a Wrongs Act referral.
Forms and precedents for this task
| Form or precedent | Kind | AI use | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Letter of instruction to an orthopaedic surgeon | Letter | AI use Yellow | Letter asking an orthopaedic surgeon for diagnosis, causation, capacity and prognosis in a plaintiff claim, with the expert code and artificial intelligence rule for Victoria, Queensland or New South Wales. |
| Letter of instruction to a psychiatrist | Letter | AI use Yellow | Letter asking a psychiatrist for diagnosis, causation, treatment and capacity in a plaintiff claim, and for a clinical view on recognised psychiatric illness, without asking for the legal test. |
| Letter of instruction to an occupational therapist on care | Letter | AI use Yellow | Letter asking an occupational therapist to record care hours, duration, paid and gratuitous help, aids and equipment, without applying a damages threshold or valuing the claim. |
| Letter of instruction to a forensic accountant | Letter | AI use Yellow | Letter asking a forensic accountant to calculate past and future loss of earning capacity on stated assumptions, with the discount rate, percentage and superannuation rate left for the lawyer. |
| Letter of instruction to an engineer | Letter | AI use Yellow | Letter asking an engineer for the condition, the mechanism and the available precautions in a plaintiff claim, with the precautions section named by the lawyer and no conclusion on negligence. |
| Psychiatrist's instructions on a recognised psychiatric illness | Letter | AI use Yellow | Letter asking a psychiatrist whether there is a recognised psychiatric illness for a mental harm claim, without asking the psychiatrist to apply the statutory tests. |
| Letter of instruction to a vocational assessor | Letter | AI use Yellow | Letter asking a vocational assessor for realistic occupations, hours and sourced earnings, without a diagnosis, an impairment score or a valuation. |
| Questions for a treating doctor | Letter | AI use Yellow | Letter asking a treating doctor for the dates, recorded diagnosis, treatment and certificates, with a separate opinion section that is sent only if the expert code is enclosed. |
| Agenda for a conference of experts | Letter | AI use Yellow | Note to experts after a direction to confer, setting the arrangements and the issues, and stating the joint-report rule in Victoria, Queensland or New South Wales. |
| Letter of instruction to an actuary on future loss | Letter | AI use Yellow | Letter asking an actuary to value future earnings and future treatment streams on the lawyer's assumptions, with the rate, percentage and life table left blank. |
| Supplementary questions after an expert report | Letter | AI use Yellow | Short letter sending further documents and asking whether the expert's opinion on a material matter has changed, with the supplementary-report duty for each state. |
Signed-in accounts can read the full text of each one. All precedents.
Sources
- Supreme Court of Victoria Practice Note SC GEN 25 · 2026-10-23
- County Court of Victoria: Use of Artificial Intelligence by Court Users practice note (9 June 2026) · 2026-10-23
- Medical Panels Victoria · 2026-10-23
- Magistrates' Court of Victoria: Guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence by Court users (19 October 2026) · 2026-10-23
The text of either Form 44A was not opened. The lawyer reads the form that applies before treating a report as compliant.
SC GEN 25 paragraph 6.12 and the County Court practice note paragraph 5.12 require particular caution for expert reports. Paragraph 6.8 of SC GEN 25 says not to enter confidential or sensitive information into a public tool.
Keep health, wage and scheme records in a firm-controlled tool. ASCR r 9 and APP 11 apply. A breach may be notifiable under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).