MEDICO LEGAL M A G A Z I N E
CLAIMANT INTERVIEW TIPS FOR EXPERTS By Andrew Gray, Owner, Truth Legal Solicitors
Five years ago, when I set up my own boutique personal injury firm, I wrote a blog entitled ’What to expect at a personal injury medical appointment’. Thank goodness that I wrote that blog, because it has been the webpage which has directed the most traffic to my firm’s website. The reason for the article’s online success is because so many personal injury law firms inadequately explain to their clients what is going to happen to them when they are examined by a medicolegal expert and, crucially, what is the function of the expert in the claim process. When I am explaining to my clients what is going to happen at this make-or-break appointment, I tell my clients not to expect a Rolls Royce service from the expert. I advise my clients that the expert is providing a critical function, ultimately for the courts, and that, as a result, the expert’s bedside manner is unlikely
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to be to their tastes. In most cases, sadly, my advice proves sage, but it shouldn’t be like this. Naturally, all personal injury solicitors appreciate that their client is attending the appointment to be examined as a specimen, but, in my view, if an expert is somewhat standoffish, then the client is more likely to challenge every aspect of the expert’s report, sometimes with justification. In my experience, when my client and an expert get on well, my client is more accepting of the expert’s report, irrespective of what it may say. And if clients are routinely complaining about a particular expert’s bedside manner, then instructions to that expert will inevitably decrease. As one of SpecialistInfo’s newest trainers of medicolegal experts, I have put together my top five tips. To the proficient medico-legal expert, of course, you will
