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- The local major hospital: Contact the relevant departmental staff and ask for names of consultants with medico-legal experience then speak to the expert personally.

- London teaching hospital: ditto.

- APIL: the Association of Personal Injuries Lawyers; keeps an expert database. Central office in Nottingham.

- AVMA: Action for Victims of Medical Accidents: keeps an expert database on medical negligence experts. Office in Forest Hill, South London.

- The law reports. The Personal Injuries and Quantum reports contain details of the names of experts in the body of the judgements in some cases.

- Medical referral agencies: recently many companies have sprung up (for instance IMS or Premier Medical) offering to find the appropriate expert for lawyers.

14.4 Once the expert has been identified inquiries should be made about his or her experience and qualifications. The Medical Directory provides details of all medical practitioners' basic qualifications. Practitioners may also send a request for a cv to the expert so that they can establish the areas of expertise. In these days of increasing specialisation within law and medicine the general qualification FRCS is not sufficient to justify instruction in all whiplash cases.

14.5 The expert should be asked about medico-legal experience as well. If the lawyer needs to find an expert in a tough whiplash case where functional overlay is involved then medico-legal experience may be vital. It may be useful to have a standard form asking questions such as: "how many reports on whiplash cases have you prepared in the last 2 years?" "Have you ever given evidence a court?" "Have you written any articles or carried out any research into whiplash injuries?" etc.

15 Choosing an expert

15.1 Treating doctor The first factor influencing the choice of category of