Periciais

Periciais refers to technical examinations conducted by qualified experts to establish facts in legal or administrative matters. The term is used in Portuguese-speaking legal contexts to describe the set of investigations and the resulting documents, commonly known as laudos periciais. Periciais are performed by peritos, professionals with specialized knowledge in fields such as engineering, accounting, medicine, informatics, or forensics. They are frequently employed in civil and criminal proceedings, as well as in administrative investigations, to provide objective technical information for decision-making.

The process typically begins with an order from a court or competent authority that defines the scope, the specific questions to be answered, and the deadlines. The perito conducts inspections, tests, analyses of documents, or simulations as appropriate. The resulting laudo pericial outlines the methods used, the data examined, the reasoning followed, and the conclusions reached, including any uncertainties or limitations. In many systems, the parties have the right to participate in the process, request clarifications, and present counter-expertise, ensuring the adversarial nature of the procedure is observed.

Specialized branches of periciais include perícia contábil (forensic accounting), perícia médica (medical-forensic), perícia ambiental (environmental), perícia trabalhista (labor-related), and perícia informática (computer forensics). The pericial evidence is considered one of the evidentiary elements that a judge or administrator weighs alongside other proofs to reach a decision. Professional standards emphasize impartiality, independence, and methodological rigor, with mechanisms to address conflicts of interest or challenges to the expert’s findings.