Most clinical and legal conferences offer valuable insight into developments within a particular discipline. Yet the relevance of an individual presentation to the cases on your desk is not always immediately clear.

A compelling clinical presentation may raise questions about how the evidence would translate into a pleaded case, a schedule of loss or an expert report. It may remind you of a disputed recommendation or a point of disagreement between experts, without creating the opportunity to explore why those opinions differed or how each might withstand challenge.

Delegates can therefore leave with valuable information, but also with unresolved questions.

Securing the Future: Evidence in Catastrophic Child Injury and its Lifelong Impact has been designed to address that gap.

Rather than presenting a series of standalone clinical lectures, this case-led medico-legal conference will follow a realistic catastrophic child injury claim through the issues that can shape liability, quantum and lifelong provision.

The focus will not simply be on what an expert recommends. It will be on how that recommendation is reached, how it contributes to the wider legal argument and whether the underlying reasoning is capable of standing up to scrutiny.

The questions that shape complex claims

Should the cost of a home hydrotherapy pool be included within a catastrophic injury claim?

Will a child with complex medical needs ever realistically undergo surgery in the independent sector, and should private treatment costs therefore form part of the claim?

Does the need for hoisting, in itself, justify a recommendation for 2:1 care?

These are just a few of the questions that can lead to disagreement between experts, negotiation between parties and detailed scrutiny by legal teams.

There is no single answer that applies to every claimant. The strength of an opinion will depend on the evidence, the individual circumstances and the expert’s ability to explain the reasoning behind their conclusion.

The purpose of the conference is not to prescribe a preferred view. It is to create a forum in which experienced legal and clinical professionals can examine the areas most likely to be questioned, disputed or challenged.

One case, multiple disciplines and a connected legal argument

Throughout the day, speakers will contribute their specialist clinical knowledge to the same developing case scenario.

This approach will allow delegates to consider not only the evidence within each discipline, but also the connections, dependencies and potential tensions between different opinions.

A recommendation relating to surgery may affect care, rehabilitation, accommodation or future costs. A view on mobility may influence equipment, transport, therapy and support. An apparently straightforward care recommendation may raise wider questions about proportionality, duplication, practicality and the claimant’s likely circumstances over time.

By examining these issues within one case, delegates will be able to consider:

• where clinical opinions may diverge
• how recommendations made by one expert affect evidence in another discipline
• whether the factual foundation for an opinion is sufficiently robust
• what further evidence may be needed to support a conclusion
• where assumptions, duplication or inconsistency may be exposed
• which recommendations are most likely to be challenged during litigation

This connected approach is intended to reflect the reality of complex personal injury and clinical negligence work, where expert evidence is rarely considered in isolation.

From specialist knowledge to defensible opinion

Clinical expertise is essential, but it is not enough on its own.

An expert report must demonstrate how the evidence has been analysed, why a particular conclusion has been reached and how the recommendation relates to the claimant’s individual needs.

It should also acknowledge uncertainty, address reasonable alternative views and distinguish between what is clinically desirable, reasonably required and properly attributable to the injury.

For legal professionals, the conference will offer an opportunity to consider how expert evidence can be tested, clarified and strengthened before it becomes a point of dispute.

For expert witnesses, it will provide a constructive setting in which to examine the reasoning that sits behind recommendations and consider how an opinion may be received by solicitors, counsel, another expert or the court.

The central questions will include:

• Is the opinion grounded in the available evidence?
• Has the expert remained within their area of expertise?
• Have relevant alternative opinions been considered?
• Is the recommendation specific to this claimant?
• Are the practical and financial implications properly addressed?
• Could the reasoning be explained clearly under questioning?
• Would the conclusion remain robust when challenged by another expert?

These are not abstract reporting principles. They are questions that can materially affect the way a catastrophic injury claim is pleaded, valued, negotiated and ultimately resolved.

A forum for constructive professional challenge

Complex claims inevitably contain uncertainty and disagreement.

Different experts may interpret the same evidence differently. Legal teams may question whether a recommendation is necessary, proportionate or causally related to the injury. An opinion that appears clinically sound may still require further evidence before it can support a head of loss.

Those areas should not be avoided. Examined constructively, they can lead to clearer reasoning, better questions and stronger expert evidence.

The ‘Securing the Future: Evidence in Catastrophic Child Injury and its Lifelong Impact’ conference will create space for that discussion.

Speakers will present their clinical knowledge, but they will also be invited to consider the legal significance of their conclusions, the areas in which another expert might disagree and the questions they would expect their evidence to face.

Delegates will be encouraged to contribute their own professional perspectives, draw on relevant case experience and explore the points that are not always addressed within a conventional conference presentation.

Tracy Fields, Specialist Physiotherapist, Expert Witness and Conference Organiser at Maggie Sargent & Associates, said:

“Expert witnesses are often asked to provide opinions on complex and highly challenged areas, yet there are limited opportunities to explore those questions openly with professionals from other disciplines.

“We want this medico-legal conference to provide a constructive forum where delegates can test assumptions, discuss areas of disagreement and consider whether the reasoning within their reports will genuinely stand up to scrutiny.

“The aim is not to prescribe a single ‘right’ answer. It is to help experts build clearer, stronger and more defensible opinions by understanding the clinical evidence, the legal context and the points most likely to be challenged.”

Will the evidence withstand scrutiny?

The value of expert evidence lies not only in the conclusion reached, but in the quality and transparency of the reasoning that supports it.

A robust opinion should assist the court, withstand professional challenge and remain defensible when considered alongside evidence from other disciplines.

That principle sits at the heart of Securing the Future: Evidence in Catastrophic Child Injury and its Lifelong Impact.

The aim is for delegates to leave with a deeper understanding of the challenged areas within catastrophic injury litigation, the questions that should be asked of expert evidence and the steps that can strengthen both the clinical and legal argument.

Event: Securing the Future: Evidence in Catastrophic Child Injury and its Lifelong Impact
Date: Tuesday 24 November 2026
Venue: Radisson Blu Hotel, Sheffield
Hosted by: Christopher Melton KC
Organised by: Maggie Sargent & Associates
Early bird tickets: £100 + VAT until 31 August 2026
Standard tickets: £150 + VAT from 1 September 2026

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