CATHERINE COOPER - 10 YEARS AT JJ&A
Catherine Cooper is an Advanced Nurse Practitioner with a wealth of nursing and management experience in Emergency/Unscheduled and Primary Care.
She has been part of the JJ&A Expert Witness team for ten years and our Head of Clinical Negligence since 2022. To celebrate her tenth anniversary, we thought we’d ask Catherine to document her journey into expert witness work with JJ&A, and we’re delighted she agreed.
Before Jane James and Associates
I qualified from Guys Hospital (Nightingale Institute) in 1994. Initially, I worked on a surgical ward before transferring to A&E six months later to pursue the career I had decided would be exciting and challenging. I undertook my A&E qualification at Kings College University the following year. I was enormously proud of qualifying from such a prestigious London hospital.
In 1997, having worked as part of the team for two years or so, I decided a change was needed and, having lived in London for six years, wanted to move on. Unbeknown to family or friends at the time, I applied to join Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps (QARANC). They snapped me up as the skillset was right, and in early 1998, I embarked on a 7-year Army career.
It was a shock to the system, and passing out of Sandhurst was not easy, but a highlight of my career to date. There followed several tours in some austere conditions, including Bosnia and Kosovo.
During this time, I met and married my ex-husband and was lucky to have two lovely children. I left the Army in 2004 before my eldest arrived and continued my A&E career as a Senior Sister in Bath.
In 2012, I decided to pursue the Advanced Clinical Practice route, and I was ‘invited’ to General Practice in 2012, completing my Non-Medical Prescribing course shortly after. This move to the ‘dark side’ saw me complete my MSc in Advanced Clinical Practice, lecture at the University of the West of England and start on the foray into expert witness work.
An Expert Witness role beckons
I have a probing mind and love a challenge, so when an Operations Manager friend mentioned expert witness work and suggested I give it a go, I was intrigued enough to pursue it further. As a senior nurse with 20 years of experience in Emergency/Unscheduled and Primary Care, it seemed the perfect next step in my clinical career.
I joined Jane James and Associates as an expert in 2014 and, with very little lead-in time, soon produced my first report. I found the report writing initially hard as I needed to establish the ‘legal language’ and learn how to write. Back then, there was not the same degree of training and support that there is now.
Over time, I started to get repeat work and develop confidence in my report-writing skills and ability. With support from Luci and the team at JJ&A, it was 2 to 3 years before I felt established in the company and as an expert.
The last ten years
In 2022, after eight years as an expert witness, Luci Lloyd (JJ&A’s Director of Operations ) asked if I would consider leading the liability team. Again, this was a steep learning curve, mastering the unfamiliar company back office function.
The position requires that I am a good role model for the other experts in terms of being up-to-date and credible whilst at the same time ensuring the product we provide is of a high standard and that the experts are supported to achieve this.
Then, of course, there’s meeting and maintaining the high standards and expectations of the company and Luci Lloyd.
Who would have thought I would be comfortable marketing a business? But, as it turns out, I love meeting clients and prospective experts and attending conferences to promote JJ&A and its services.
Informing my clinical practice
Yes, it’s been a steep learning curve at times, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the last ten years as an expert witness and, latterly, being part of the JJ&A team as Head of Clinical Negligence.
Undoubtedly, seeing where things go wrong focuses the mind somewhat. And attending conferences with causation experts at the top of their field has been educational in my clinical decision-making.
I lecture at the University of West England and reiterate to the students that, in terms of the medicolegal aspects of managing conditions, documentation and the importance of understanding red flags associated with conditions are everything.
Being an expert witness has added a new dimension to my clinical work - it informs my clinical role, whilst my extensive clinical experience informs my expert witness work. It’s undoubtedly a win-win situation.
Catherine has over thirty years of experience as a nurse in Emergency, Urgent and Primary Care settings. She has a wide and varied experience. Alongside her expert work since 2014, Catherine oversees the Liability Team of experts at JJ&A as Head of Clinical Negligence.
