Finding an expert witness orthopaedic surgeon

[WhoreOfBabyliss]

I'm struggling to find an expert witness.

I believe my case is fairly straightforward. How on earth do people find an expert witness that will work for a litigant in person rather than through a solicitor?

I have a barrister who will act for me in this case.

If anyone knows how I go about this, I would be interested to know please.

Recommendations from your barrister could be your first port of call tho if your case is sufficiently complex to need expert evidence I think you’re either get brave or misguided to proceed without a solicitor backing your up.

@MindTheGapMoveAlong

Thanks, I can't get a solicitor interested in it. It's too complex and they all seem to want cases where they have to look at ten pieces of paper only/slippedonachip.com style stuff.

There are plenty of solicitors working in complex medico legal cases - serious and catastrophic injuries which require multiple medical experts and tons of paperwork. Ref finding an expert witness alone, there are several medical expert agencies/chambers you can approach as an individual. What’s the nature of the injury?

I’d suggest asking your barrister for the contact details of whichever firms/individuals regularly instruct them on cases like yours. Phone the Law Society in London (Chancery Lane) for recommendations. Their admin teams are use to handling enquire from the public and will steer you in the right direction. Also look at www.legal500.com for peer rated specialists across the country.
If your claim ‘has legs’ I’d be very surprised if no one takes it on. How are you funding it btw?

How can it be fairly straightforward and also complex?

There are plenty of solicitors who take on complex work, if they think it has prospects of success on initial review.

Expert witnesses are usually easy to find but in your case expect to have to pay up front.

The people I deal with tend to charge around £300 an hour plus vat for personal injury work, and £600 an hour plus vat for negligence work. A simple personal injury report without a lot of notes to review or need for further imaging etc is usually 1-2 hours work, negligence work however all bets are off.

Where possible both sides should agree to a common expert witness to reduce overall costs, however if paying up front you will probably be able to find someone.

I am funding it myself.

I stated that it is straightforward as I believe it is. I have stated it is complex as it is complex but easy to understand.

I can't get a solicitor interested because I have been let down by a surgeon and also my GP and her partner when I returned stating that something had gone wrong with my surgery. All the solicitors I have tried to get to take it on only seem to want to deal with really simple and straightforward cases that are a slam dunk.

I think I have found an expert witness now and suspect I will have to just sue one party only to simplify it. This is annoying as the other party has let me down to such a massive degree also.

Which firms have you tried? Maybe you have tried the wrong ones? A suitable firm will always take on a claim they feel has sufficient prospects of success, even if there is more than 10 pages of documents to review. Successful claims is how they make money, after all. You're either going to the wrong firms; not explaining it very well, so they (potentially-wrongly) assess you as not having sufficient prospects of success; or you just don't have sufficient prospects of success, so nobody will take the risk.

I think I have found an expert witness now and suspect I will have to just sue one party only to simplify it. This is annoying as the other party has let me down to such a massive degree also.

What if the respondent then asks for the other party to be added to the claim? Cherry picking who to sue does not necessarily make things more simple.

@LizDoingTheCanCan

I think I have found an expert witness now and suspect I will have to just sue one party only to simplify it. This is annoying as the other party has let me down to such a massive degree also.

What if the respondent then asks for the other party to be added to the claim? Cherry picking who to sue does not necessarily make things more simple.

It can lead to you losing if you don't include the party who turns out to be liable. Or only getting partial damages if you don't sue a party who's found to be partially liable.

There's no compulsion on a sole Defendant to bring another in (and they won't, unless they feel that the missing Defendant(s) are actually liable, as they don't want to be hit with the wrongly-included party's costs), so it's not necessarily the best course of action.

You should include every (potentially) liable party to have the best prospects of success.

Many no win no fee solicitors take on cases that are not simple. The fact that no one wants to take it on implies its not winnable.

I would contact the British Orthopaedic society or royal college of surgeons and ask their advice. they will have a list of private consultants/expert witnesses.

My barrister says it's winnable and that I have overcomplicated it by seeing fault in both the original surgeon and my GP. I have since revised in light of this. I now have confidence in being litigant in person with the help of the barrister.