Personal Injury Essentials: The law and a practical guide to the expert's role

Description

This course has been designed for expert witnesses specialising in personal injury (both new and experienced). It is aimed at medical and non-medical experts, and it will be of particular interest to those wishing to develop their skills in dealing with high value and complex cases.

The course focuses on what makes a good expert witness and goes beyond discussing the duties imposed by CPR Part 35 to really unpicking what the expectations are of an expert by lawyers, clients, the court and other experts.

The course will provide a refresher of the law relating to liability and causation and look at some recent cases and developments. The role of an expert witness will be considered and in particular how evidence from different disciplines jigsaw together to help quantify and resolve a claim from the outset to resolution. The course will end with a discussion of how experts can best market themselves to obtain good sources of work.

The course is designed to be interactive using case studies, a breakout session and a Q&A session. Delegates are encouraged to ask questions throughout the session to maximise the relevance of the training to their practice area.

What you will learn

• The law relating to personal injury – an expert’s guide to liability and causation
• A discussion of the different expert disciplines commonly instructed in personal injury claims and an overview of how these different disciplines interact
• An explanation of how lawyers build cases and how the role of an expert fits within that construct
• Recent developments in the law including fundamental dishonesty and update to the Ogden tables
• An explanation of case management and an analysis of a typical directions Order with particular reference to the identification of key stages of expert involvement
• Joint discussions and statements – how to prepare
• The importance of compliance with duties and deadlines including a discussion of potential consequences of failures and how to avoid them
• A brief summary of the expert’s role in court proceedings – expectation, preparation and performance
• An interactive case example helping demonstrate the above