Paediatric expert witnesses
Perinatal Expert Witness Reports for Birth-Related Injury Claims
Our chambers provide perinatal expert witnesses to referring solicitors, giving an independent opinion on the child’s side of a birth-related injury: hypoxic injury, birth trauma, and the timing and causation of brain injury. You see the CV before you appoint, and every report is written to the expert’s CPR Part 35 duty to the court.
- Acts for either side
- Single joint expert available
- CV before you appoint
- CPR Part 35 court-ready reports
The role
What a perinatal expert witness does, and a clear boundary
A perinatal opinion addresses the child’s side of a birth-related injury: hypoxic injury, birth trauma, and the timing and causation of brain injury. We provide the paediatric and neonatal perspective. We do not provide maternal or obstetric breach-of-duty opinion; where a case needs that, it sits with an obstetric expert elsewhere.
Credentials
Regulation
Scope
Areas covered
A perinatal expert witness covers the child-side questions most often in issue in birth-related injury:
We provide the child-side perinatal opinion only; maternal and obstetric breach-of-duty opinion sits with an obstetric expert elsewhere.
Reports
What they assess and produce
The same expert can address the child-side clinical questions in the case and produce the reports the proceedings require.
What they assess
- Hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy
- Cerebral palsy
- Birth injury, child’s side
What they produce
- Causation reports
- Condition-and-prognosis reports
Available as a single joint expert or a party-appointed expert.
Assurance
How we vet the expert
- We confirm GMC registration and specialist-register status.
- We review current clinical practice.
- We check familiarity with the CPR Part 35 duties of an expert witness.
- You receive the CV to assess suitability before you appoint.
Independence
Written to the duty to the court
Every report is written to the expert’s duty to the court rather than to the party who appoints them. We act for either side, and we can provide a single joint expert where the parties agree.
Common questions
They overlap. Perinatal covers the period around birth; neonatal covers the newborn period after it. We scope the opinion to the child.
Yes, perinatal brain-injury causation and timing is a core question we address.
No. We provide the child-side perinatal opinion only.
Yes, where the parties agree; otherwise as a party-appointed expert. Either way, the duty is to the court.
Either side. The expert’s CPR Part 35 duty is to the court.
Tell us the case type
We will respond within minutes and allocate a perinatal expert for your matter. We act for either side, for solicitors across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.