PI Brief Update

How To Speed Up Your Legal Case - Dr Mark Burgin

26/03/24. Dr Mark Burgin takes a light-hearted view of why legal cases take so long to resolve and what a claimant could do to speed things up.

Get an expert report

If you are involved in any legal proceedings and do not have an expert report then things are going to be bad. The courts expect expert reports and do not like to read through statements from claimants. They do not trust solicitor’s pleadings and are looking for an independent point of view. The expert’s report is essential in all court cases and a general practice or disability expert will usually be enough.

Phone the solicitors for an update

Every time you phone the solicitors they have to log the call and pass a message to the claim handler. The claim handler must check in your file what is happening and then provide a response. The response may involve contacting you and this make take time if they cannot get through. At once a week where each contact costs about £20 it does not take long before it is cheaper for them to fund a treatment or test directly.

Do not complain (get it settled)

Many people complain and nobody in the PI industry is interested in their complaints. Each complaint goes through a process where your case is put on hold whilst it is checked. Once the complaint and your case has been checked a letter will be sent to someone for answers. That person will deny all wrongdoing and you will be 6 months further on without improved position.

You instruct solicitors (not the other way around)

It often seems that the solicitor is in charge of the case. They make all the decisions and get you to sign documents. Often the person who is running the case is actually a case handler not a solicitor at all. This means that there is a risk that what you want will get forgotten in the rush to maximise the claim. Instructing the case handler ‘I would like to settle the claim’ can be highly effective.

Provide clarifications

If you think that the facts in the report need to be amended then write it the way you think it should be. The expert might copy and paste your comment directly into their report but often they will make it sound as if it was their idea. If you forgot a detail then make sure you put lots of details so it clear that it was not deliberate.

Email the solicitors for an update

If you actually want an update rather than just hurry the process then emails are better than phone calls for the reasons above. The email should be short and to the point something like ‘has the expert provided a response’ or ‘have you got the evidence’. Longer emails are generally unhelpful as the case handler is not going to go through the points one by one. 

Remember that its (only) money

Your time is worth money, the longer you wait for a resolution the more you are spending of your time and effort. The longer it takes the more that the solicitor will take from your payout. An early decision of a moderate figure is better than a late decision of 50% more. If your solicitor suggests that you can get more money then their approach may be dodgy and they are more likely to receive a higher payout than you.

Chase up evidence

If you disagree with the expert’s opinion then look for evidence that will change their opinion. This is usually medical evidence but if the expert says that evidence is missing then make sure that the expert has this evidence. Solicitors can take months or years to obtain even the basic evidence so double check if they say that for instance your GP is being slow.

Ask your physio if you need a scan

Any investigation causes risk for both sides, the result may favour one side or the other. The time between asking for a test and getting the results of that test is a window of opportunity. Your lawyer will be able to get a better deal but only if they settle within that window. Imaging scans

Get a second opinion expert report

All experts make mistakes and those who say that they do not cause most problems to claimants. Getting a second report is good practice and far from closing ranks most experts are happy to criticise each other. The cost of this report will out of the claimant’s pocket and the solicitor can arrange it for £1000, if you approach an expert directly they charge £200. Comparing 2 reports saves time when trying to get a clear answer.

Contact the solicitors through LinkedIn

When the case handler is stone walling you and the delays are unexplained then it is worth bypassing the case handler completely. Almost all solicitors are available on LinkedIn and get upset when they are contacted directly. A calm but concerned contact is generally the most effective and you should explain what you want to happen. ‘I had my expert report 2 years ago and nothing has happened since’.

Email the expert

If you have asked the solicitors to contact the expert and there has not been a reply then this works well. Experts are not allowed to answer questions directly but their email address is on the web. It is likely that the expert has not received your request or the expert has replied but the solicitors have not passed it on. By emailing the expert and ccing your solicitors you will get a prompt response.

Final thoughts

99% of delays are due to solicitors, 1% are due to experts and this causes problems for the court processes, claimants and experts. The proceedings often last for 3 years but can last up to 10 years there is a real risk that the expert will get ill or die before the end of the case. You may find yourself at limitation needing to get another expert urgently and paying more money.

As expert you might have thought that I would not encourage you to challenge my work. The answer is that I am a doctor so want you to get treatment as early as possible and reduce the stress of your case. As my overriding duty is to the court I want to make sure that your report is as close to perfect as possible. If, for instance, you get a second opinion and it indicates I made a mistake I want to correct it as soon as possible.

Doctor Mark Burgin, BM BCh (oxon) MRCGP is on the General Practitioner Specialist Register.

Dr. Burgin can be contacted on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and 0845 331 3304 website drmarkburgin.co.uk

This is part of a series of articles by Dr. Mark Burgin. The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own, not those of Law Brief Publishing Ltd, and are not necessarily commensurate with general legal or medico-legal expert consensus of opinion and/or literature. Any medical content is not exhaustive but at a level for the non-medical reader to understand.

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