Expert Directory

Coming soon

An expert witness directory for abuse claims

The Expert Directory will be a directory of expert witnesses for abuse claims. It will list medical experts who work on these claims, grouped by specialty.

Medical experts in abuse claims

In a claim, a medical expert may be asked to look at how abuse has affected someone’s health, and what support or treatment they might need, and to write a report about it.

An expert’s job is to help the court, not to take a side. In civil claims in England and Wales, the Civil Procedure Rules say: “It is the duty of experts to help the court on matters within their expertise. This duty overrides any obligation to the person from whom experts have received instructions or by whom they are paid.” (Part 35, rule 35.3)

Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own courts and rules. In a Scottish case, the UK Supreme Court referred to “the recognised duties of a skilled witness to be independent and impartial”. In Northern Ireland, the judiciary’s guidance says experts have “an overriding duty to help the court on matters within their expertise”.

If you are a survivor and have a solicitor, please speak to them before contacting an expert yourself. They can tell you whether your claim needs a medical report, and how one would be arranged.

How the Expert Directory will work

• It will list experts whichever side instructs them.
• Every listing will show the expert’s own professional contact details and exactly what we checked.
• We never ask for your story, and experts never pay us for cases or instructions.
• The rest of the design, including how we will check experts, is still being decided.

While the directory is being built

If you are thinking about a claim, our guides to civil claims and criminal injuries compensation explain the process, and our Legal Directory is being built too.

If you would like someone to talk to, our Support Directory lists organisations that can help.

Specialties

Related guides

• Seeing a medical expert: what to expect
• Medical experts and expert evidence: common questions
• How abuse can affect you