Best format for Psychology Medico Legal report
It may seem like a small point, but making your report easy to read, digest and annotate can sometimes make a big difference to how it is perceived. In fact, we have heard of feedback from Barristers and Judges where a report has been presented in a manner that made it difficult to follow and also to refer to in court.
We would therefore make the following simple suggestions as to how best to format your report:
- All pages within the medico legal report should have a header containing your name & professional title as well as the details of the claimant/defendant the report is concerning and the instructing party(ies)
- Each page of the medico legal report should also be numbered in the footer e.g. Page 1 of 10
- There should be a contents page at the beginning of the medico legal report covering the different sections within the report and appendicies. This page should also list page and/or paragraph numbers for the relevant sections.
- Ideally each paragraph and page should be numbered to enable specific sections of the medico legal report to be easily referred to and located.
- Each new section of the report should have a clear heading e.g. Summary of background to the case, My Opinion etc.
- The medico legal report should be on single sided A4 paper in font size 12 or larger, with double spacing to allow for note taking.
