Medicolegal Expert Insight

Jane McCullough is an accredited Specialist in Personal Injury Law and Principal Lawyer at Slater and Gordon who shares her career story going from Motor Vehicle Accidents to Abuse Law.  Jane gives us some insights into why the change, the difference between the two, how she selects her experts and what is important when choosing the experts for her Abuse Law matters. 

Tom Ballantyne is Principal Lawyer and Head of Maurice Blackburn’s Victorian Medical Law practice. Tom shares his insights in Expert Witnesses communicating with Lawyers and the Courts. We discuss what he looks for in a medical negligence case, the legal framework behind communications, his opinion on “draft” reports, some serious consequences from a communication error and so much more.

Dr Jennifer Downes-Brydon , General Practitioner explains what role might a GP play in Medicolegal reports, her involvement in Wrongs Act cases, in what circumstances you may call upon GP skills in consideration of medical negligence cases and how might a GP method of assessment provide a more holistic approach in some complex medicolegal cases. Dr Downes-Brydon then finally shares some tips if a law firm was thinking of involving her in a case. 

Henry Carus, Founder and Principal of Henry Carus and associates injury lawyers takes us through a very different perspective on law Emotional Intelligence not just law You will notice Henry has quite distinct accent, he shares why the move from New York City to Australia, why he chose to open a plaintiff personal injury firm, his secret to a successful practice and finally he shares resources that you can take away to help increase your personal emotional intelligence. Happy Listening. 

Adam Attard, Senior Lawyer at Ryan Legal in Mildura shares his insights into Preparation for the County Court Circuits. Firstly he takes us through why he made a career decision to move from the eastern suburbs of Melbourne to Mildura to pursue his legal passion, how he preps his medical reports for the circuits, the first experience running a case and the prep he had to do. Then, finally some advice for young lawyers to get some more hands on experience when they finish university.

The perfect start to a new year - a new practice! Luke Taylor, now Partner at HWL Ebsworth Lawyers shares his experience with starting up a Workers Compensation Practice in Hobart and what it really takes to succeed. Luke will give you insights into how this new challenge came across in his career, how workers compensation works in Tasmania, his plan of action, what he has learnt and then of course, some insights into briefing his medical experts

Leah O’Keefe is an Associate in the Dust diseases & Asbestos team at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, Leah shares some insights on Silica and auto immune cases, the recent change in Victoria’s Worksafe List for silica related diseases, the experts she engages, advice for these medical experts and finally some challenges when working on these matters.

Don Maffia is the Practice Manager at Arnold Thomas & Becker Lawyers. Don talks Generalist vs Specialist expert medico legal reports, he shares his insights into what that actually means, how to find the most appropriate expert for a case, what his plan of action is when a doctor is not familiar with medico legal work and what happens when the matter goes to court.

Gennaro Fittipaldi, Principal of Fittipaldi Injury Lawyers shares his insights into the “Victorian workers compensation scheme, WorkSafe Victoria". He helps us to understand the purpose of the scheme, entitlements, when he would go to a medico legal for an opinion, how he selects his experts, his insights into working with a defendant firm and then starting his own firm representing plaintiffs.

Dr Zarrar Chowdary shares his insights into Addiction and Rehabilitation, what cases he has worked on and what the rehabilitation side of his expertise involves. Dr Chowdary has a particular interest in substance misuse. 

Cameron Tout, Special Counsel and accredited specialist in Personal Injury Law at Shine Lawyers shares the definition for a serious injury, the difference between a TAC & Workcover serious injury, some common themes, factors to consider when deciding if someone meets the lifestyle test (plus what is a lifestyle test), some tips for a medico-legal working on a serious injury report and finally some personal advice from his experience for properly instructing a medico legal.

Hayriye Uluca is the Principal Lawyer and State Litigation Leader for Victoria in Superannuation & Insurance at Maurice Blackburn.  Hayriye shares her insights into the difference between TPD, Workcover and why they have different questions for the expert to consider, some functional impact examples of medications with these cases and some issues she has noticed in some reports from experts.

Teni Sarris joins us to share her personal insights from a “Young Lawyers Perspective”. We give you some insights into her journey so far, what she has learnt about the medico legal industry, what she considers when selecting medical experts for her cases and some advice for some other young lawyers starting in the industry. 

Anna Morgan helps provide foundations for enhancing an expert’s performance as an Expert Witness. In this podcast she shares the mistakes, what things should be considered when being briefed for a case, advice on what you need to know when writing a report, what should be done before sending a report and finally a little more about her new business Expert Witness Coach

Leah Hickey shares her insights into the judgment of Kotas v Express Enterprises Pty Ltd [2016]. She explains what information was used from the medico legal reports from this judgement and some key important evidence for medico legal examiners to be aware of.

Emily Knowles is a registered psychologist dedicated to the study of psychological forces in the work context. Emily requalified as a psychologist after an early career training as a lawyer. Emily helps us understand, what the meaning behind wellbeing actually is, what could trigger a ‘wellbeing moment’, some advice on approaching and digesting conflict and some particular practices she would recommend to ensure professionals are checking on their wellbeing

Sarah shares her insights into TPD (Total Permanent Disability) claims and how it is different. She takes us through what a TPD claim is, what it includes, how it is different to TAC and Workcover, why a claim might get rejected even if everyone has TPD in their superannuation, at what stage in the process she needs an expert opinion and what type of experts she engages for these particular claims.

Paula Shelton, Special Counsel at Adviceline Injury Lawyers and Law Institute of Victoria accredited personal injury specialist gives you some insights into Medical Negligence Case Preparation. Paula shares how to determine whether you actually have a claim or not and the difference from a workcover or TAC claim. How she selects her medical experts and what detail frustrates her in a report and finally how she prepares everything for court. 

Jeremy is a personal injury lawyer with two discrete areas of expertise - police misconduct and TAC compensation claims. Today, we focused on police misconduct because no-one litigates against Victoria Police more than Jeremy. 

Michael shares what it is like running a small personal injury law firm, what are certain do’s and don’ts, how you have to be careful of what cases you take on, how he selects his barristers and some stories from real life cases.

Rozanne Brash, Senior Account Manager at Rework (experts in workers compensation) shares how to avoid supplementary reports with a killer letter of instruction. Rozanne will give you insights into what the key is to a killer letter of instruction, what evidence and questions she provides to an expert which has resulted in zero supplementary reports in her 30 years of experience in Workers Compensation and in what circumstance she engages a medical expert for her area of expertise.

Peter Mileto is an Associate in the Public Liability team at Slater & Gordon. Peter explains what causation is and when the plaintiff has established it, how a medico legal can attack causation, the use of language in a report and in what circumstances does it present an issue for the plaintiff.

Jane Banting is an APA Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist who shares with us what a Vocational Assessments is, the difference between a Occupational and Physiotherapist assessment, why a lawyer would use a musculoskeletal physio for a case, what a physiotherapy assessment involves, some examples of what cases she has worked on before and some suggested questions for the letter of instruction

Luke Perilli is an Associate at Maurice Blackburn. Luke is in the asbestos and occupational disease team and shares his insights on the type of cases he is approached with, the research he needs to do prior to selecting an experts opinion and his advice on what an expert should be thinking when he sends a client to them.

Jason Brown is the National Manager of Operations for Personal Legal Services at Maurice Blackburn. Jason shares insights into what is happening in the AI space and how it is effecting the medico legal industry. What needs to be considered when doing video assessments with experts, the examinee experience when attending an appointment and so much more.

Mr Peter Dohrmann is a Neurosurgeon who also has extensive experience as an expert witness. Mr Dohrmann provides insights on how to determine the difference between a pre-existing injury and the current injury.  The challenges when dealing with inconsistencies, what he would like to see if the letter of instruction and his opinion in response to lawyers questions when experts say “see above”

John Perra, Consultant Partnership Manager at eReports shares with us from an eReports perspective, what the process is behind selecting the right experts for their clients, how they find these experts, the benefits to working with 3rd party medico legal service for doctors and for legal professionals and how he stays up to date with what experts may be needed for upcoming cases.

Jaquie talks to us about Virtual Etiquette. She shares some important things to remember when having a virtual consultation, the pro and cons, how to get the best out of a virtual consultation and mostly importantly some tips on how do you build rapport virtually.

I’m joined by John Valiotis, Barrister who signed the bar roll in 2009, having previously been employed with Shine Lawyers and the TAC as a Solicitor. John shares his opinion on what solicitors can be doing to get the best out of a medico legal report, how letter of instructions should be prepared, some common frustrations he faces as a barrister when it comes to analysis of medical opinions, examples of how medical witnesses have presented well in court and so much more

Dr Wood sharea his experience with elite teams and athletes and how quickly you can recover from an injury. The pitfalls when it comes to relying on imaging to provide a diagnosis or management of someone with a sports or musculoskeletal complaint and in what context would a lawyer need his expertise for a personal injury case.

Larry shares his personal insights on how to build rapport repour with clients/patients, how to ask questions the ‘right’ way to build trust to then ultimately gather the particular information you need.

Tamara helps us dive deeper into a TAC case to understand, what type of claims are possible, why she involves an expert, what aspects of the case her client is across when meeting the expert, are most lawyers wanting the same questions answered, does she only want supportive reports, why she tells experts they’re required in Court months ahead and then is never required and finally how can an experts set themselves apart so she will brief them again. This is certainly a jam packed conversation.

Shari shares her opinion on the things she looks for when selecting a medical expert for a case, what medical experts can do to make the process work well, the little details that would make her recommend an expert to her colleagues and most importantly the things that would make her NOT recommend an expert again.

Why Medico Legal Expert Insight?