Speakers:

Dr John Elston, Dr Helen Fernandes, Tom Simmons, Dr Neil Stoodley, John Vater

Chairperson:

Charles Geekie QC

Location:

Lion Court Conference Centre, 25 Proctor Street, WC1V 6NY

Date:

21 March 2012

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The Children in Need Census shows that in 2011, 42,700 children and young people were the subject of a child protection plan, an increase of over 50% on figures from 2007.  Whether you are a solicitor, barrister, police officer or medical professional, this specialist conference is for you.  The need for skilled assessment and presentation of evidence plays a vital role in determining the outcome of many child abuse cases.  All professionals involved in cases of neglect, physical, sexual abuse and injury to children need to have a thorough understanding of the most effective methods of collating, presenting and using evidence in child protection proceedings.   

Evidence in Child Abuse Cases Conference 2012 will provide best practice guidance from an expert multi-disciplinary team.  The conference will feature a step by step guide on giving and eliciting critical oral evidence from expert medical witnesses, insight into how IT analysis can inform investigations and risk assessment in child sex abuse cases and how medical professionals investigate, interpret and diagnose non-accidental injury using the latest medical imaging technology.  It will also provide guidance on the presentation of evidence in child sexual abuse cases and will close with a case study discussion led by an unrivalled panel of medical and legal experts debating evidential issues in non-accidental head injury cases.          

This conference features an expert multi-disciplinary team from legal, medical and policing backgrounds and combines discussion on best practice and current thinking in the preparation and presentation of evidence in child abuse cases.  Chaired by leading children law silk, Charles Geekie QC the conference will include:

• A master class in advocacy technique including a practical demonstration of examination of an expert medical witness  
• Expert medico-legal panel discussion debating a fictional non-accidental injury case study 
• Best practice guidance on the preparation and presentation of evidence in child sexual abuse cases
• Insight into how medical professionals use imaging in non-accidental head injury cases 
• A spotlight on using IT evidence to inform child sexual abuse investigations 
• Plus! The opportunity to put complex practice issues to an eminent team of experts

Comments from previous delegates

“This is probably one of the best courses I have attended, absolutely excellent and gripping”
Kathy Walker, Solicitor, Atkins Hope LLP

“This has been a really excellent conference. Fascinating and informative.  A must for anyone involved in this field in whatever capacity. The medical panel was unmissable”

Emily James, Barrister, 5 Pump Court

“An excellent course – well presented and informative. One of the best I’ve attended for a while”

Sandra O’Brien, Senior Lawyer, Brighton and Hove County Council

“I found the entire day extremely useful”

Peter Thomas-Pedder, Barrister, No 2 Dr Johnson’s Buildings

Who should attend? 

All professionals dealing with child abuse cases, including:

• Solicitors
• Barristers 
• Legal executives 
• Local authority lawyers 
• Medical professionals (psychiatrists, psychologists, eye specialists, radiologists, neurosurgeons and paediatricians)
• Expert medical witnesses  
• Police officers
  
  What is included?

• Guidance on current thinking in child abuse cases from a multi-disciplinary specialist speaker team
• Cutting edge knowledge about medical and legal developments  
• Practical tips on identifying and extracting critical evidence in complex cases  
• The opportunity to discuss difficult practice issues and network with peers and expert witnesses  
• Intermediate/advanced level update training 
• Plus! The chance to buy selected Family Law products at 20% discount

This conference is an essential toolkit for all professionals involved in child protection proceedings.

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CHAIR



Charles Geekie QC 1 Garden Court Chambers
Charles’ practice centres on issues concerning children, including public and private law cases.  He has considerable experience in dealing with complex residence cases and those involving relocation.  He represents local authorities, parents and Guardians in public law and adoption cases.  He has particular experience in complex care cases involving fatalities, serious injuries, sexual and emotional abuse and cases where there is a conflict of medical evidence.  Charles sits as a Recorder hearing family cases.  He has contributed to Rayden and Jackson on Divorce and Family Matters, Halsbury’s Laws (children volume) and has written for Family Law.  He is an elected representative on the committee of the Family Law Bar Association and a member of the Association of Lawyers for Children.

SPEAKERS AND PANELLISTS

Dr John Elston
Consultant Ophthalmologist, Oxford Eye Hospital 
John specialises in paediatric and neuro-ophthalmology at the Children’s and the John Radcliffe Hospitals in Oxford where he also holds a University Senior Lectureship. His training in ophthalmology was in London at Moorfields and Great Ormond Street Hospitals and in neurology at the National Hospital Queen Square, with a Fellowship at Johns Hopkins Baltimore, USA. He has published widely in the ophthalmic, paediatric and neurological literature and lectures regularly in the UK and overseas on topics including the ophthalmological aspects of inflicted injury in infancy and childhood.

Tom Simmons
Team Leader Behavioural Analysis Unit, Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre
Tom provides specialist knowledge and skills to assist in the investigation/training regarding sexual crimes against children. As a detective in the Metropolitan Police (joining in 1983) he gained a range of investigative experience including child protection (investigating inter-familial child abuse). In 2003 he was seconded to NCS Paedophile On-Line Investigation Team. Transferring to SOCA in 2006 he became the Team Leader of CEOP’s on-line child sexual abuse investigation team conducting national and international on-line operations and investigations.

Dr Neil Stoodley
Consultant Paediatric Neuroradiologist, Frenchay Hospital
Neil is a member of the Expert Committee of the Family Justice Council and specialises in the interpretation of scans of infants and children with congenital and acquired brain abnormalities.
As Lead Consultant in Paediatric Neuro Imaging for North Bristol NHS Trust, he is closely involved in the medico-legal aspects of cases of alleged non-accidental injury and has acted as expert witness giving evidence in the High, County, Crown and Coroners Court. Neil also lectures extensively to other radiologists and paediatricians as well as to lawyers including the Bar and the judiciary. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, The Royal College of Radiologists and The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

John Vater
Barrister, Harcourt Chambers
John joined Harcourt Chambers in 1995 and has established a reputation as a leading barrister in children law. He has a particular interest in public law children cases involving complex and controversial medical evidence and has extensive experience of cases where allegations are made of inflicted head injuries.

Dr Helen Fernandes
Consultant Neurosurgeon, Addenbrookes Hosptial
Helen was appointed Consultant Neurosurgeon at the internationally renowned Addenbrookes Hospital in 2002, the first female surgeon to be appointed there.  She specialises in the treatment of adult and paediatric patients with brain and spinal problems.  She trained on the Northern Region Neurosurgical Training Programme having graduated from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.  She supplemented her training with secondments to Great Ormond Street Hospital and the Montefiore Hospital, New York.  During her training she also spent two years in research having been awarded the Louis Alexander Research Fellowship from the Royal College of Surgeons and later a Hunterian Professorship from the same organisation. She gained her doctorate of medicine in 2000 and was then appointed as a Medical Research Council senior lecturer and honorary Consultant Neurosurgeon prior to her move to Cambridge.

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09.30   REGISTRATION AND COFFEE

10.00 Chair’s Welcome
Charles Geekie QC
 
10.10 A Practical Guide to Examination of an Expert Medical Witness
 Charles Geekie QC

• Preparation:
  • Medical notes
  • Experts' reports
  • Experts' meetings
• Examination-in-chief
• Cross-examination

11.10 COFFEE

11.25 CEOP Behavioural Analysis Unit: Bridging the Gap Between Academia and the Investigation of Child Sexual Abuse
Tom Simmons

• Current research, e.g. possession of indecent images of children - What are the risks?
• How knowledge of child sex offenders can be utilised to enhance investigative interviews
• How IT analysis can better inform investigations & risk assessments of child sex offenders

12.25 Understanding Ophthalmic Injury in NAI Cases 
Dr John Elston

• The spectrum of ophthalmic injury – including orbital and optic nerve sheath haemorrhage
• The importance of documentation including retinal photography
• describing and dating retinal haemorrhage
• The significance of retinal folds
• The effects of retinal and brain injury on vision
  

13.00 LUNCH 
 
14.00 Imaging in Non-Accidental Injury Cases
Dr Neil Stoodley

• Imaging or imagining? The importance of CT and MRI
• Why is it important?
• Update on recent publications on NAHI
• Evolution of current thinking
• Comments on recent cases and judgments
• Peer review

14.50  AFTERNOON TEA

15.05 The Forensic Preparation and Presentation of Cases of Alleged Sexual Abuse
John Vater

• The standard of proof
• Identifying and collating the best evidence
• Points to remember:
  • Physical evidence
  • Photographs
• Accounts from the child: Video interviews and therapy
• The child witness

15.35 Panel Discussion: Does the triad remain a reliable means of detecting NAHI?
Moderator:  John Vater
Panellists:  Dr John Elston, Dr Helen Fernandes, Charles Geekie QC and Dr Neil Stoodley

Case study discussion of the fictional case of Baby G

16.45 Question and Answer Session

17.00 CLOSE OF CONFERENCE

Under the Solicitors Regulation Authority, ILEX’s Continuing Professional Development Schemes and the Bar Standards Board’s New/Established Practitioner Programmes this conference will receive a credit of 5 hours 30 minutes.

Enquiries
Jordan Publishing Limited,
Conference Department,
21 St Thomas Street,
Bristol
BS1 6JS
Tel: 0117 918 1490
Fax 0117 925 0486
DX 78161 Bristol

Fee
All fees are inclusive of refreshments, lunch and course documentation. Cheques payable to Jordan Publishing Limited.

Booking Terms
If you book online you may enter your credit card details, or ask to be invoiced. All invoices for this seminar must be paid within 30 days of the invoice date. Registering your details on the booking form will constitute a booking. Telephone bookings are only accepted if paid by credit card. All other bookings must be confirmed in writing.

Seminar Venue
Lion Court Conference Centre
25 Proctor Street
London WC1V 6NY

Acknowledgement of Bookings
Full details of the venue, including a map, will be sent via email two weeks prior to the seminar. If you have not received acknowledgement of your registration one week before the seminar, please telephone our Conference Department on 0117 918 1490 to confirm that your registration has been received.

Registration on the Day
The seminar will start promptly at TBC. Registration will take place in the preceding half hour.

Substitute Delegates
If you are unable to attend, a substitute may attend in your place. It would be helpful if you would inform us of any changes as soon as possible.

Cancellation and Refunds
A credit against the registration fee payable (less an administration fee of £50.00 plus VAT) can only be made in respect of written cancellations received by Jordan Publishing in Bristol at least 10 days before the conference. The full registration fee plus VAT is payable on cancellations received less than 10 days before the conference. Cancellation of third and subsequent places will cause remaining delegates to revert to full fee.

Please note:
It may be necessary for reasons beyond the control of Jordan Publishing to change the content and/or timings of the programme and/or speakers.