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TERMS & CONDITIONS FOR MEDICO-LEGAL REPORTING

DR JAMIE H CAMPBELL MD (Hons) BCH BAO MRCP

Consultant Neurologist

GMC 6143955

 

Below are the terms and conditions upon which I will accept appointment to act as an expert witness. Instructing me indicates acceptance of these terms.

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General

• Instructions accepted for personal injury, insurance reports, tribunals and clinical negligence claims for adults over 18 years of age.

 

Fees and Instruction​

• Preparing a written report, including inspection of all relevant documentation and medical records provided and in all other time spent in relation to this matter including subsequent responses to questions per hour, or part thereof: £350.00

• I will, upon request, provide an estimate of my fees to cover the initial report. These will be kept under review, and I will seek to update the Instructing Solicitor and/or agency should it appear that the initial estimate will be exceeded.

• Initial report to be supplied within 21 working days after appropriate documents received and/or client consultation where necessary.

• Instructing Solicitors should, at the point of instruction, provide a written background to case with details of specific questions to be answered including any points of dispute.

• Fixed fee option for informal, not-for-disclosure screening opinion: £550.00.

• Fixed fee option for informal, not-for-disclosure screening opinion will be provided upon receipt of written background to case with details of specific questions to be answered.

• Fixed fee option for informal, not-for-disclosure screening opinion will be provided within 14 working days of receipt of relevant medical records.

• Fixed fee option for informal, not-for-disclosure screening opinion is based upon medical records being less than 50 pages. Screening reports that involve more than 50 pages of medical records may incur additional fees in agreement with Instructing Solicitor.

• Initial consultation with Client including examination: £350

• An appointment with the client will only be arranged once all medical records have been received. Unless otherwise instructed, I will send an appointment to the Client directly specifying the next available appointment. As soon as an appointment is confirmed by both parties, details will be emailed to the Instructing Solicitor. I aim to offer an appointment within 6 weeks of receipt of instructions.

• Within Northern Ireland, all appointments will be in Kingsbridge Private Hospital, Belfast.

• In the event the client fails to attend a scheduled appointment without cancellation more than 48 hours prior to the scheduled appointment, I shall be entitled to charge Instructing Solicitors a fee of £200 to cover loss of consultation time, room hire and preparatory work.

• For clients who do not have fluency in English it is expected that the Instructing Solicitor will provide an independent interpreter.

• The Instructing Solicitor or their agent will be responsible for the payment of investigations invoiced by the hospital, including but not limited to X-rays, CT/MRI scans, blood tests and any neurophysiological investigations.

• Where additional investigations are required such as MRI/CT scans or neurophysiological investigation, then such investigations will not be undertaken until I have the Instructing Solicitor’s approval.

• In person attendance at conference with counsel or expert meetings including travel time to and from my usual business address is charged at minimum of half-day: £1400.

• If it is possible to attend conference with counsel or expert meetings by telephone, or online platform, then billing is by the hour, rather than half day at standard rate £350 per hour or part thereof.

• If conference with counsel or expert meetings are cancelled, any travel expenses already incurred will be charged to the Instructing Solicitor. No additional charge will be made if cancellation is made 72 hours in advance. If conference with counsel or expert meetings are cancelled with less than 72 hours’ notice will be charged at 50% of the hourly rate for the estimated time set aside to initially attend subject to a minimum charge of one hour £350.

• Attendance at Court will be charged at £350 per hour to including waiting time charged. Minimum total charge for attendance at Court is for half-day £1400.​

• Travel expenses for court attendance, conference with counsel, or expert meetings will be charged by car at £1.10 pence per mile plus parking and/or taxi charges as per paid receipt. Full reimbursement is expected in relation to first-class rail fare and/or standard class air travel where required for court attendance, conference with counsel, or expert meetings.

• Over-night subsistence expenses including hotel accommodation and meals may be charged for any attendance in person more than two hours travel away from my correspondence address.

• I require at least 8 full weeks’ notice for court attendance

• I expect to be paid for the entire time booked for court attendance regardless of whether I am called to give oral evidence.

• If made available to give evidence in Court, and if due to out-of-court settlement or for any other reason, I am no longer required to appear on the previously agreed date/time, then I shall be entitled to charge a percentage of the original fee agreed to appearing in Court as outlined below as charged per day I have made myself available;

  • Cancellation more than 28 days’ notice                    No costs payable

  • Cancellation with 14-28 days’ notice                         50% costs payable

  • Cancellation with less than 14 days’ notice              100% costs payable  

• Any travel expenses incurred prior to cancellation of previously scheduled Court appearance will be charged in full.

• Instructing Solicitors accept sole responsibility for paying my fees and disbursements, unless instructions are received via an agency, in which case the Instructing Solicitor and agency both accept joint and several liability for my fees.

• Where I am instructed as a Single Joint Expert by the solicitors of both parties, both firms of Instructing Solicitors will be jointly and severally liable for the fees and disbursements.

• I will invoice upon delivery of my report. Payment will be due within 60 days of the date of the invoice or the closure of the matter, whichever is soonest irrespective of whether you have received reimbursement of my fee from your client, the legal aid agency, or a third-party insurer.

• Should an invoice not be settled on time, the provisions of the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 as amended by the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Regulations 2002 & 2013 will be applied at 8% per annum above Bank of England base rate at the time of invoice being raised.

• Where the invoice is overdue, I retain the right to release any further addenda only upon receipt of the payment plus interest.

• All charges are made for “work done”, and settlement or otherwise of my invoices is not conditional upon success of a case.

• If the Instructing Solicitor cancels their request for a Medical Report before completion, fees relating to all work carried out up to the point of cancellation will be incurred.

• Fees are not currently subject to VAT

 

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Medical Records

• Instructing Solicitors (or their agent) are responsible for providing me with all information which might reasonably be expected to be relevant in enabling me to fulfil my responsibilities under this Appointment as and when it becomes available to your Client and/or to Instructing Solicitors or their Agents;

• Instructing Solicitors (or their agent) are responsible for ensuring that the Information provided or prepared by your Client or on your Client’s behalf is complete and accurate in all material aspects and not misleading and is updated as necessary (informing me immediately if your Client discovers or has reason to believe that any of the Information is, or becomes, untrue, incomplete, misleading or inaccurate in any material respect).

• I will rely upon the information provided by the Instructing Solicitors and am not responsible for verifying its accuracy.

• All documents should be password protected and sent by email or secure electronic transfer.

• Original medical records or images should not be sent unless absolutely necessary.

• If original medical records are sent it must be clearly identified as being original records and not photocopies.

• Medical records delivered by post are at the expense of the Instructing Solicitor.

• Medical records and any other documents relied upon in evidence must be sent all together and have the following requirements;

  • High quality photocopies and/or

  • As an electronic file such as .pdf or .doc only

  • All records must be fully sorted, paginated and indexed;

  • Records must be in chronological order;

  • One page of original document per electronic page

  • With all pages in the same orientation

• Medical records not sent in this way may incur additional administration fees based upon time required to arrange records in the manner and format outlined.

• Where medical records are not provided, the report will only include findings from the history and examination of the client. The report will explicitly state that the medical records were not available for review and the report will therefore have certain limitations.

• Photocopies of medical records will be kept for six months from the date of completion of the medical report after which time they will be securely destroyed.

• Original medical records will be returned to the Instructing Solicitor after six months at the solicitor’s own expense.

• If you wish any records to be destroyed earlier or returned to you, please stipulate this at the time of instructions. There will be an additional postal charge for return of records.

• The medical witness retains ownership of all intellectual property, including reports, until full payment is received. 

 

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