Founded in 1987, Jane James and Associates is a standalone expert witness firm. Now, Luci Lloyd, Jane’s daughter, has taken the reins to help grow the firm and its team of expert witnesses.
As a paediatric nurse with 17 years of experience in the NHS, Luci transitioned from her role as a clinical nurse specialist to working with Jane James and Associates in 2016. She initially worked as the clinical lead and then took on more of the management and operational side of the business, eventually becoming director of operations in 2021.
As director of operations, Luci manages the running of the business. Luci explains that she is supported by a fantastic internal expert liaison team who look after Jane James and Associates’ 20 expert witnesses. Luci has her own busy caseload of expert witness work, which consists predominantly of paediatric care and loss of services reports.
“From coming out of the NHS, I had gained a clinical role at Jane James and Associates, predominantly around recruiting, training, and supporting new expert witnesses, whilst ensuring as a business that we were up to date with the ongoing changes in the care industry,” explains Luci.
“I then started to deal with the inquiries from solicitors. I think that my clinical background helped with understanding cases and reading the information within the inquiry, because it was predominantly clinical information of Claimants who had been injured.”
“My role gradually grew, and I really enjoyed the operational side of things, which also included going to conferences and exhibiting Jane James and Associates, which allowed me to meet with current clients and network to also meet potentially new clients.”
Luci has been key in recruiting new expert witnesses to the company.
“We offer bespoke induction and training packages for successful candidates. We know that all our experts are very much on it in relation to their clinical skills working as occupational therapists and case managers; however, working as an expert witness is quite different,” says Luci.
“As case managers and occupational therapists, they are advocates for their clients. However, writing reports for the Court as an expert witness you must be impartial, and the level of detail that has to go into an expert report can be significantly higher than what you would possibly write in a treating report, so we provide guidance there.”
Luci says the business has learned a lot over the years about the calibre of expertise needed for expert witnesses.
“People like the idea of becoming an expert witness and assisting the Court, but I don’t think many fully understand the amount of work and the time that it takes to write expert witness reports, the additional work that comes in after the report is completed, and also the fact that these cases can go on for several years” says Luci.
Jane James and Associates director of operations Luci Lloyd
“At Jane James and Associates, we predominantly recruit occupational therapists who are case managers within litigation, which has been a good fit for us. This is because they already work with Claimants and have some experience speaking and liaising with solicitors and deputies.”
“I think that the knowledge and experience as a case manager gives somebody wanting to become an expert witness a good head start, but not every case manager makes a good expert witness.”
“We offer applicants applying for a role as an expert witness with Jane James and Associates the opportunity to have an informal conversation and read a sample report. We feel that it is crucial to get those points across about the detail that goes into the reports, and finally, that being an expert witness means you will be challenged. Hence, you must be robust and confident enough to deal with that.
“Barristers and solicitors will challenge experts to ensure we are robust in our recommendations. It’s not necessarily that they’re doubting our recommendations; they want to make sure we can explain them and see how we respond to questions, because ultimately, if the case goes to Court, we will be questioned on our report.”
Luci says that “as a paediatric care expert, I see predominantly children who have different levels of cerebral palsy, and I’m recommending care packages for children who have a moderate to severe brain injury. The main challenges centre around how involved families have been in providing the additional care needs of the child.”
“Families have always provided that additional care. Therefore, when experts explain their role, and that we will be recommending funds for a care package and therefore having support workers coming in to help them look after their child, some families can find that very difficult,” explains Luci.
“Families clearly and understandably want to continue to care for their child, but at the same time, they’re usually physically and emotionally exhausted. They have adapted to a full-time caring role and haven’t been able to return to their jobs. Many would have also had years of disturbed nights and suffered with sleep deprivation.”
“It’s essential to find a balance of trying to introduce a care package over some time, particularly while a child is at school, so, by the time they’re a young adult, they will predominantly be looked after entirely by support workers, and the family would have been able to take that step back.”
In 2025, Jane James and Associates will continue to grow its team of expert witnesses. Steady growth is vital to providing our experts and clients with ongoing personal and professional services.
“Jane James and Associates also makes time to ensure that they support local charities. This year, we are involved in the 20/20 challenge for Julia’s House Children’s Hospice in Wiltshire and Dorset. In August, there will be seven of us abseiling down the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth; we aim to raise at least £5,000.00 for this worthy cause.”
Jane James and Associates is fundraising for Julia’s House
