Process
At the first meeting, (which can either take place at your home, or our Sydney office), we will listen carefully to the problems you are facing, and provide clear and unambiguous advice about all aspects of your claim.
This includes what you will need to establish in order to succeed in your claim, how we will go about doing that, and what damages you are likely to receive. We will give you realistic time frames for the completion of the matter, and what to expect along the way.
Above all, our approach is to take the stress away from you, and let us do the worrying.
After the first meeting, we send through a Costs Agreement for your consideration. This sets out the basis on which we will act for them and the estimated fees. If you have any questions or concerns we discuss them in detail, so you have full understanding what it means, and how it will work at the end of the matter if we recover damages. The different practice areas require different approaches from that point.
Medical Negligence
In medical negligence cases, we next obtain a copy of relevant medical records so we can approach an independent medical expert for an opinion as to whether the treatment provided was below an acceptable standard i.e. negligent, and if so, whether you’re worse off as a result. This is known as damage.
If the answer to both questions is yes, then we have an arguable claim, and can commence court proceedings. From the time we start the case in Court it takes about 1-2 years to finalise it, depending on the degree of difficulty with the case. The more complicated the case the longer it generally takes.
The vast majority of cases settle out of Court, usually following a mediation or informal settlement conference. The reason for this is that it is in both parties interests to do so, because the cases are mostly highly complex, and the parties do not want to leave the decision to a Judge who will impose an outcome on them. At mediation the parties can control the process and the outcome, so that is attractive.
As a result, it is important to have a skilled and experienced lawyer in your corner, who can guide you, and who is respected by the opposition. In my experience, many cases settle because of that long standing respect