Expert witness areas of expertise:

• Personal injury/clinical negligence: psychiatric/psychological injuries and complex mental health problems following trauma, accidents, and breach of duty/negligence, including serious and catastrophic injury, historical abuse, discrimination, military claims, victims of crime and abuse

• Family law: mental health of children and parents, parenting competence, family functioning, sibling and parent relationships, complex systemic dynamics, risk to children, residency, contact, ability to make and sustain changes, parental alienation

• Risk assessment and management: suicide risk, sexual recidivism, sexually harmful behaviour, domestic abuse, intimate partner violence. Theory and evidence-based risk assessment and management, including capacity and motivation to change, protective factors, recommendations for management/treatment

• Immigration/asylum: victims of torture and abuse, including human trafficking, deportation and its impact on couples and families, risk assessment

• Employment: work-related stress, fitness to work, return to work, employment tribunals, psychiatric injury, bullying, harassment, discrimination

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Expert witness competences:

• Assessment of psychiatric disorders/mental health problems in children, adolescents, and adults

• Clinical interview: conducting detailed assessments of complex mental health problems/disorders

• Diagnosis of psychiatric disorders and personality disorders using DSM-5-TR and ICD-11

• Psychometric/psychological testing

• Psychological formulation: uses psychological theory and evidence to explain complex mental health problems/disorders (including why a specific individual developed particular mental health problems/injuries when they did, how mental and physical health problems inter-relate, the contributing role of social factors, and problematic systemic relationships); anticipate and overcome barriers to change (relevant to judgments about prognosis); and guide individualised, evidence-based interventions.

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Dr Siddaway combines NHS clinical practice with expert witness work and conducting and supervising research and works across the lifespan – with children, adolescents, and adults. He is a trusted expert witness for personal injury, clinical negligence, family law, immigration, and employment cases and prepares around 100 expert reports per year (30% joint, 60% claimant, 10% defendant). Known for producing meticulous, evidence-based, accessible medico-legal reports and providing clear evidence in Court, he delivers high-quality assessments that meet the demands of complex legal cases. He is very happy to informally discuss potential cases and can assess and report with tight turnaround times if needed.

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Dr Siddaway conducts expert witness assessments in-person and remotely. He is happy to travel as needed for assessments. Although some professionals view evidence collected remotely as being less credible, the evidence-base indicates that remote assessments are generally equivalent to face-to-face assessments in terms of validity, safety, and acceptability (click here for a summary of the literature). 

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Dr Siddaway's Expert Witness CV

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​Please get in touch to discuss instructions and timescales. References and sample reports are available on request.