![]() ![]() Once you’ve pinpointed the problem or problems with the care or treatment, the lawyers will want to know why it was wrong, how it went wrong, and could it have been predicted or prevented. Your duty is ultimately to help the court, and this duty overrides any obligation to the person from whom you have received instructions or by whom you are paid. You must also never venture beyond your own expertise, and you must be honest in your opinions and be prepared to admit when you do not know something. If you are going to survive as an expert you will have to be objective and be prepared to draw out favourable as well as unfavourable aspects of a case. Lawyers will question you about the general and the particular, the empirical and the theoretical, the objective and the subjective. The legal profession is not like medicine or dentistry: lawyers have been trained to extract information from documents, to ask closed questions and, above all, to win their argument no matter which side they are on.Īn excellent solicitor or barrister will be able to present a good argument from both sides. Hostile worldĪs an expert, you will be taken out of the relatively cosy clinical environment in which you are master, into a seemingly hostile world in which non-clinicians – solicitors, barristers and judges – put endless questions to you, challenging you to provide them with certainties. This combination of experience and qualifications gave me the self-belief to become an expert. I had at different times been a clinical teacher of restorative dentistry and of children’s dentistry, and I had a postgraduate dental degree. As well as possessing the necessary clinical qualifications, you will also need years of clinical experience under your belt.īy the time I was seriously involved in expert witness work, I had between ten and 12 years’ clinical experience behind me. Technical expertise does not automatically qualify someone to be an expert witness: very different skills and competencies are also required. There are no defined qualifications for being an expert witness, but people should not seriously consider putting themselves forward for the role unless they have a relevant postgraduate clinical qualification.Ĭonversely, having a string of letters after your name won’t necessarily make you an excellent expert. Answer verbal questions put to him or her by lawyers.Answer questions put to him or her in writing by lawyers.The medical or dental expert working in clinical negligence will be expected to carry out the following tasks: They testify on matters that they have not seen or heard at first hand.Ī layperson can only give evidence based on fact, whereas expert evidence is opinion based. Others, either officially or legally, rely upon their specialist opinion ![]() They are believed to have knowledge beyond that of the average person in their profession There are many definitions of ‘expert witness’, but the key elements are that: An expert is, by the very nature of the job, also a professional writer. These are not necessarily the skills you were taught at medical or dental school, but they are essential skills for the expert. Marshal various sorts of evidence to support a logical argument. Argue logically, consistently and skeptically Classify evidence precisely and assess its value and reliability Read large quantities of text quickly, accurately and critically Write clear, concise, grammatically correct and accurately spelt prose Of course, any aspiring expert witness must be an expert in his or her chosen clinical specialty, but to be a successful expert witness, you will also need to develop five key skills namely, the ability to: The Oxford English Dictionary defines an expert as ‘a person who has great knowledge or skill in a particular area’. We are also offering readers a discount to buy the whole book, The Effective and Efficient Clinical Negligence Witness: see bottom of this article Young sets out some basics for getting started and gives some useful tips. In this Independent Practitioner Today serialisation of his brilliant new book, Michael R. Some like the kudos, others see it as a natural progression of their career, some do it for the money and a few do it for altruistic reasons. Being an expert witness is an attractive proposition for increasing numbers of independent practitioners and can bring handsome rewards. ![]()
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