IME Discovery Workshop
Building a Sustainable Medicolegal Practice
ONLY TWO WORKSHOPS LEFT IN 2026
There’s no shortage of information about medicolegal psychiatry. What’s harder to find is a straight account of how to actually build a practice doing it — and how to hold your reasoning up once a report leaves your desk and lands in front of a lawyer.
This is the foundational starting point for psychiatrists beginning their medicolegal journey — a single working day working through de-identified case material, built to leave you with concrete strategies for the professional and personal demands of the work, not just the theory of it.
REGISTER NOW
MELBOURNE
Friday 16 October 2026 | 9am – 3.30pm
The Commons, 55 Collins Street, Melbourne
Very limited places available.
Tea, coffee and lunch included.
5 hours RANZCP CPD—Certificate of Attendance
$695 + GST REGISTRATION FEE
SYDNEY
Friday 13 November 2026 | 9am – 3.30pm
The Commons, 39 Martin Place, Sydney
Very limited places available.
Tea, coffee and lunch included.
5 hours RANZCP CPD—Certificate of Attendance
$695 + GST REGISTRATION FEE
What you’ll work through
Training and accreditation Which accreditation bodies matter for which case types, and how to structure your professional development efficiently rather than accumulating credentials for their own sake.
Report structure, the way lawyers read it The fundamentals of report structure, working through to the harder territory — providing decisive opinions rather than qualified hedging, and why that distinction matters once a report is under scrutiny in court.
Practice models compared Agency work versus independent practice, examined across referral consistency, administrative burden and fee control.
Case reasoning and the questions that catch people out Templates, checklists and systems for streamlining your assessment process, plus the case reasoning work and the specific questions that tend to catch practitioners out — the material that keeps referrals coming back and manages the long-term exposure of sustained trauma-focused work.
The program
8.30am — Registration, tea and coffee and networking
9.00am Welcome and overview with Dr Helen Schultz — the role of the psychiatrist IME in the legal process
9.15am IME essentials — transitioning from clinical to independent practice, expert witness obligations under the Civil Procedure Act, setting fees, agencies versus direct referrals
10.15am AI in medicolegal practice with Dr Owen Bradfield — using AI in report writing and record keeping, and staying protected while you do
11.30am Break
11.45am Civil claims accreditation across jurisdictions — requirements in Victoria, NSW and Queensland; determining impairment using PIRS, GEPIC, the AMA IV and V guides, and the Wrongs Act
12.30pm Lunch
1.00pm Report writing — injury, impairment, causality, material contribution, apportionment, and what keeps referrals coming back
2.45pm Summary, next steps and peer support pathways
3.00pm Session concludes
Who this is for
Psychiatrists thinking seriously about medicolegal work who want a clear picture of what it involves before they commit. Practitioners already taking the odd referral who want to formalise their approach. Anyone preparing to pursue accreditation and wanting to know which pathways actually matter for their intended case types.
REGISTER NOW
IME Discovery Workshop—Building a Sustainable Medicolegal Practice
Friday 16 October 2026, 9am–3.30pm
The Commons, 55 Collins Street, Melbourne
Coffee, tea and lunch included.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
This session moves beyond introduction into the practical mechanics of medicolegal work. You'll examine de-identified reports, map accreditation pathways, compare practice models, and leave with templates and systems ready to use. Designed for psychiatrists who want a clear picture of what this work actually involves — before they're in the middle of it.
IME Discovery Workshop—Building a Sustainable Medicolegal Practice
Friday 13 November 2026, 9am–3.30pm
The Commons, 39 Martin Place, Sydney
Coffee, tea and lunch included.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
This session moves beyond introduction into the practical mechanics of medicolegal work. You'll examine de-identified reports, map accreditation pathways, compare practice models, and leave with templates and systems ready to use. Designed for psychiatrists who want a clear picture of what this work actually involves — before they're in the middle of it.
What you leave with
A clear action plan for the accreditation steps relevant to your intended case types
Templates for report structure and opinion formulation
Practical strategies for managing the emotional demands of trauma-focused work
Guidance on fee structures and building referral relationships with legal teams
A realistic picture of what the first 12 months actually look like
A worked understanding of how medicolegal assessment differs from clinical practice, built through real case scenarios rather than theory
CPD certificate
About your presenters
Dr Helen Schultz FRANZCP
Dr Helen Schultz is a consultant psychiatrist who works exclusively in medicolegal assessment and reporting. Her practice covers historical abuse cases, personal injury claims, workers' compensation matters, and professional misconduct proceedings. She also delivers education for legal professionals and psychiatrists entering this field.
The IME Discovery Session is built around the questions she wished someone had answered clearly before she started.
Dr Owen Bradfield
Dr Owen Bradfield is a dual-qualified medical practitioner and health lawyer, and currently the Chief Medical Officer and Medicolegal Lead at the Medical Indemnity Protection Society. He brings 15 years of experience in the medical indemnity insurance industry, advising and representing doctors across civil claims, regulatory complaints, employment disputes, coronial inquests, and Medicare investigations.
Dr Bradfield is also a health law researcher at the Law and Public Health Unit at the University of Melbourne, a 2020 Fulbright Scholar, and a member of the Australian Government Virtual Care and Telehealth Expert Advisory Group. He is a highly sought-after speaker at medical and legal conferences in Australia and internationally.