70 LAWYER MONTHLY EXPERT WITNESS AWARDS 2025 imaging, and reports from other experts before compiling my own. For personal injury and some clinical negligence cases, patients need to be seen and examined to prepare a condition and prognosis report or to determine causation. Patients can be seen at my local private hospital, at home, or at another institution nationally. Remote assessments via video consultation are also available. While video consultations are convenient and cost-effective, they do not permit physical examination, which in neurosurgery can be a significant limitation. Regular consultations with solicitors and counsel—often via video link—are part of my practice. One advantage of my current setup is the ability to prepare urgent reports and conduct consultations promptly across the UK. Medicolegal Work I have dealt with a wide range of personal injury and clinical negligence cases and produced many thousands of reports. I used to accept instructions for any area of neurosurgery encountered in my clinical practice. I now limit my work to cases where I have an ongoing academic or longstanding clinical interest. These include all cases of head and spinal trauma and almost all spinal cases, such as spinal epidural haematoma, spinal infection, spinal epidural abscess, spinal cancer, and cauda equina syndrome. Although I previously had extensive clinical and academic experience in paediatric neurosurgery, I am no longer active in this area and do not accept such cases. In brain and spinal cases, the first step is to identify the nature and site of the pathological process. From there, I assess whether the patient was appropriately referred, whether an adequate history was taken and a proper clinical examination performed. This determines the timing and nature of investigations, including imaging. In personal injury cases, I determine causation. In clinical negligence cases, I assess whether there was any breach of the duty of care and whether it caused or contributed to the outcome. Often, the final outcome may result from a nonnegligent complication of necessary surgery. While complications in neurosurgery and spinal surgery are relatively uncommon, their consequences can be devastating. Special Interests I have a particular interest in cauda equina syndrome (CES). I have more scientific publications on CES than any other author worldwide and am recognised as an international authority on the subject. My work includes publications on standards of care,
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