Meetings  

You are welcome to attend individual meetings as a guest of an existing BMLS member at £15 per meeting. Alternatively you may like to become a member and have access to all six presentations in a season for £60.  

AGM followed by: History of vascular surgery and how current vascular practice is changing the medicolegal cases 

September 30, 2024 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm (supper at 6pm if pre-booked) 
Professor Alok Tiwari, Consultant Vascular Surgeon, Visiting Professor of Vascular Surgery, Department of Vascular Surgery at University Hospitals Birmingham 
 
Alok will be discussing the history of vascular surgery as it has evolved over 2000 years and how the role of the vascular surgeon has changed. He will then discuss the trends and themes in medicolegal cases involving vascular surgeons. 
 
An optional supper is available beforehand at 18.00 at Gusto restaurant, Colmore Row. 

Paul’s Impact on Secondary Victim Claims 

October 21, 2024 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm (supper at 6pm if pre-booked) 
Phil Barnes, National Head of Shoosmiths' Serious Injury team 
 
This talk will look at the significant changes in the legal framework of secondary victim claims following the landmark Paul case and provide a clear understanding of the current state of the law and its practical implications for future cases. 
An optional supper is available beforehand at 18.00 at Gusto restaurant, Colmore Row.  

Recent advances in vision and brain imaging and their implications for clinical science 

November 25, 2024 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm (supper at 6pm if pre-booked) 
For many years, chronic neurological disorders have been diagnosed primarily through their effect on patient behaviour. Although brain imaging systems have been available since the late 1980s, their use in clinical diagnosis has often been limited by the difficulty in obtaining high quality data and extracting 'biomarkers': unambiguous measures of functional or anatomical damage. I will describe how recent advances in neuroimaging technology - new scanners, implanted devices, databases and machine learning tools - promise to revolutionise this field and provide clinicians with rapid and objective measures of brain damage and brain disease. 
An optional supper is available beforehand at 18.00 at Gusto restaurant. Colmore Row.  

Accommodation Claims – What’s Involved? 

January 27, 2025 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm (supper at 6pm if pre-booked) 
Mr Jonathan France FCIAT AssocRICS, France & Associates 
 
Mr France will discuss when accommodation claims arise and what is involved in considering the needs of a Claimant. He will also touch on matters relating to discussions with his counterparts on claims and where costs often increase, not to mention any more recent relevant updates on the property and construction industry. 
An optional supper is available beforehand at 18.00 at Gusto restaurant, Colmore Row.  

Electrifying: An update on nerve injury, paralysis and pain 

February 24, 2025 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm (supper at 6pm if pre-booked) 
Mr Dominic Power, Consultant Hand and Peripheral Nerve Surgeon, Queen Elizabeth Hospital 
 
Nerves are electrical cables in the human body, controlling movement, sensing our environment, and providing feedback to prevent injury. When injured there is loss of feeling, paralysis, and pain with significant functional and psychosocial implications. Prompt recognition and early specialist referral enables a fascinating array of novel interventions that can help mitigate the effects of injury. 
An optional supper is available beforehand at 18.00 at Gusto restaurant, Colmore Row. 

Fixed Recoverable Costs and the impacts on Solicitors and Experts 

March 31, 2025 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm (supper at 6pm if pre-booked) 
Sean Linley, Senior Costs Draftsperson / Assistant Manager, Carter Burnett 
 
An overview of the Fixed Recoverable Costs rules, including the latest developments and guidance. The session will give an overview of what the rules are, when they apply, the procedure and how recovery will be impacted. It will include considerations of the separate Clinical Negligence Fixed Costs scheme applying to claims with a settlement value of less than £25,000.* 
*The content may alter depending upon what developments we have. 
 
 
An optional supper is available beforehand at 18.00 at Gusto restaurant. Colmore Row.