How to get work as an Expert Witness – life after the course

You may be thinking seriously about embarking on training to become an expert witness (hopefully with The Dental Expert Witness Course) – but what happens after completion of the three days? We all know that it is so easy to return back to work after a course, only to realise that weeks or months have passed and nothing has really changed.

The role of an expert witness is completely independent – you will not be employed or salaried in any way (it is very different to the work of a dento-legal advisor working for an indemnity organisation). Typically, work comes by approach via email from either the side of the Defendant (i.e. the insurance or indemnity organisation operating on behalf of the dentist) or the side of the Claimant (i.e. the legal representatives of the patient who has initiated the claim). There are also agencies that you can register with who have a “pool” of experts and act as an intermediary between you and the instructing parties. It is unlikely you will ever get a huge amount of work from any one organisation, and it is therefore important to establish contact with as many of these firms as possible so that instructions for work comes from a diverse range of sources.

There are various ways to do this, but in our opinion contacting these companies directly with a professional email or phone call and well-written CV which establish your credentials both clinically and medico-legally (i.e. stating that you have completed appropriate training) is absolutely the best way. Later, you might also be surprised to find that you are contacted by a company you have not had any contact with previously – solicitors will often recommend good experts to each other, and if you have demonstrated your ability to provide high quality reports which demonstrate understanding of the correct legal processes then you will eventually that “word of mouth” begins to work in your favour.

It is generally recognised that there is a shortage of expert witnesses in dentistry. In 2022 Dr Raj Rattan (then dental director at Medical Protection) stated:

“Given the importance of expert work it is concerning that bodies such as the courts and regulators report difficulties in finding appropriately qualified individuals to undertake it. The pool of dental experts is not as large as it could be, and there is no single centralised register of accredited experts. Instruction therefore often relies of word of mouth.”

It has to be said that becoming established as an expert witness is likely to take time, and initially you may only receive a small number of approaches and instructions. This is comparable to doing any other course involving specialist areas of clinical dentistry – building a “referral base” does not happen overnight. So whilst we would not recommend reorganising your week to accommodate expert witness work immediately, with time you will almost certainly need to clear some space (perhaps a day per week) to ensure you have time to comply with your workload. If you enjoy the work and produce high quality reports, then it is absolutely possible that you will be in sufficient demand to spend two or three days per week as an expert witness – maybe even more.

IMPORTANT

As part of The Dental Expert Witness Course we are delighted to be able to give you a huge advantage which no other course can offer.

Immediately after completion of Day 2 we will host an informal event at the Kimpton Hotel bar, where representatives from some of the biggest clinical negligence and indemnity firms will not only be present, but will also be keen to meet you and take your contact details to consider you for future instructions.

We feel that this benefits everybody concerned for the following reasons:

• For you it will provide an important first step into actually working as an expert witness and generating income using your skills. Every attendee will want to recoup the course fee as quickly as possible – this is understandable. The more connected you are with the right people the sooner this will happen.
• For the companies that attend the event will give them access to expert witness who – despite being new to the work – are suitably knowledgeable and trained and have demonstrated commitment and credibility by attending this training. As stated earlier, given the shortage of dental expert witnesses this event is in their interests as much as yours.
• For The Dental Expert Witness Course it means that we are not only providing high-quality comprehensive training, but also important practical assistance in transitioning from the theory into actually working as quickly as possible. We consider this to be of great importance as part of our training, and also significantly advantageous over any other expert witness training course.

The question of “how do I get work after the course?” is perhaps the one that has been asked the most since this course was first advertised. Hopefully this article provides some valuable guidance on how this achieved. Ultimately it will depend on your ability to provide high-quality reports and will also require some endeavour on your part to make contact with instructing parties. However, with The Dental Expert Witness Course you will be in the optimal position to quickly become established and generate demand for your experience and expertise. Contact us to find out more, or book now to reserve your place.