Conference Chairperson & Opening Remarks

Mary Kirwan, Barrister & Lecturer at RCSI

One Year of the High Court Clinical Negligence List: What Has Changed in Practice?

Speaker: Louise O’Rourke, Partner, Healthcare Team, Hayes Solicitors

• How case management has developed since the dedicated list commenced
• What the court now expects before an application for a trial date
• Managing incomplete expert evidence, outstanding discovery and unresolved procedural issues
• The effect of judicial directions on preparation, readiness and progression
• Practical lessons for plaintiff and defendant representatives

Medical Devices, Products and Technology-Related Injury Claims

Speaker: Sarah Reid BL, The Law Library

• Distinguishing alleged clinical negligence from product or device failure
• Responsibilities around selection, implantation, monitoring and patient information
• Identifying potentially responsible parties, including clinicians, providers, suppliers and manufacturers
• Managing expert evidence where clinical, engineering and product issues overlap

Expert Evidence Under the Clinical Negligence List: Reports, Readiness and Narrowing the Issues

Speaker: Conor Morgan, Partner, Healthcare Team, Hayes Solicitors

• Selecting and instructing experts early enough to avoid delay
• Instructing experts clearly without leading or over-lawyering the opinion
• Managing overseas experts and differences in terminology, practice and legal tests
• Dealing with incomplete or evolving expert evidence before trial-date applications
• Whether joint expert discussions or court-directed narrowing of issues may become more common
• What makes an expert report useful for settlement, mediation and trial readiness

Early Resolution, Mediation and Settlement Strategy in Clinical Claim

Speaker: Sinéad Keavey, Partner, Healthcare Team, Carson McDowell

• Identifying claims that may be suitable for earlier resolution
• Deciding when liability, causation and quantum evidence are developed enough for mediation
• Using mediation without weakening the plaintiff or defence position
• Managing patient, clinician, indemnifier and expert participation
• Non-financial concerns, explanations and communication
• Recording agreements clearly and dealing with unresolved issues

GP Practices, Private Clinics and Multi-Provider Care: Managing Responsibility Across the Patient Pathway

Speaker: Clíona Kenny, Legal Director, DAC Beachcroft LLP

• Claims involving hospitals, general practitioners, laboratories, diagnostic services and private providers
• Identifying where responsibility rested at different points in the patient pathway
• Administrative workflows, triage, test results, referrals and follow-up systems
• Separate indemnity arrangements and notification obligations
• Contribution claims, apportionment and cooperation between multiple defendants
• Avoiding gaps where no single provider held the complete clinical picture

Benefits of Case Management in Catastrophic Injury Cases that have a PPO

Speaker: Siobhan Mc Sweeney CEO, MCS Case Management Limited

• Why Case Management Matters After Settlement
• The Complexity of Catastrophic Injury
• The Role of the Case Manager
• Benefits of Case Management Under a PPO

Causation in Clinical Negligence: From Clinical Error to Legal Proof

Speaker: Kate Ahearn BL, The Law Library

• Why proving breach is not enough without a clear causation pathway
• Common causation problems in diagnosis, treatment delay and escalation cases
• Building the clinical timeline from records, referrals, test results and follow-up advice
• Separating the effect of the underlying condition from the consequences of delay
• Avoiding over-simplified assumptions around “avoidable harm”
• Presenting causation evidence clearly to courts, experts, insurers and clients

Mandatory Open Disclosure, Notifiable Incidents and Subsequent Litigation

Speaker: Helen Smith, Associate, Litigation & Dispute Resolution, Eversheds Sutherland LLP

• What mandatory open disclosure means in practice for healthcare providers
• The difference between notifiable incidents and wider patient safety incidents
• How apologies, disclosure meetings and records may interact with later claims
• Keeping open disclosure communications distinct from investigation findings and legal advice
• Managing later corrections, additional findings or evolving clinical understanding
• Supporting candour without making unsupported conclusions about liability