Nusrat Mir, Director at Peak Medicolegal Services LTD, is a Consultant Psychiatrist with extensive expertise in General Adult and Perinatal Psychiatry. Currently, he provides medical leadership to a Community Mental Health team dedicated to caring for patients with severe and complex psychiatric disorders. His multidisciplinary team includes nurses, social workers, clinical psychologists, occupational therapists, and support workers. As an Expert Witness, Nusrat specializes in the psychiatric aspects of clinical negligence, personal injury, fitness to practice, capacity assessment, family law, data breach, occupational stress and birth trauma.
Nusrat began his private medicolegal practice in 2009 after being appointed as a Substantive Consultant Psychiatrist at Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust. Starting from scratch in private practice posed significant challenges, as he had no peers in Psychiatry in his Trust who were involved in private work, leading to a sense of isolation. Despite these challenges, he persevered as a sole trader, gradually building his reputation and gaining the attention of solicitors in the UK working in clinical negligence and personal injury.
The first seven to eight years were particularly tough, with Nusrat often wondering where his next legal instruction would come from. He registered with various medicolegal agencies and tried to meet lawyers in person to get direct instructions. Breaking into the medicolegal world was difficult, given the competition from experienced Psychiatric Expert Witnesses with well-established practices.
Around 2015, Nusrat discovered LinkedIn, which proved to be a game-changer. It allowed him to connect directly with lawyers and share interesting content online. Over time, his connections grew, and his profile as an Expert Witness improved. Instructions increased, particularly for Perinatal Psychiatric Clinical Negligence cases involving birth trauma, which affects at least a third of all deliveries in the Western world.
By 2017-18, the pace of instructions picked up, leading Nusrat to establish his own Private Limited Company, Peak Medicolegal Services Ltd, in 2019. As CEO, he has been responsible for directing the company, producing reports with administrative support for enquiries, typing, and invoicing. Nusrat has strategically expanded the types of reports he prepares, balancing between a variety of General Adult and more specialized Perinatal cases. This approach allowed him to build his business gradually, becoming one of the leading Perinatal Psychiatric Expert Witnesses in the UK.
Nusrat lives and breathes Peak Medicolegal Services Ltd, effectively serving as the face of the company. He networks, shapes the vision, and develops strategies, ensuring the company’s continued success and growth in the medicolegal field.
Focus on Medicolegal Reports and Court Testimony
As an Expert Witness, Nusrat’s primary focus is preparing medicolegal reports for claimant or defendant lawyers and providing court testimony when necessary. Most of his reports involve complex clinical negligence or personal injury claims. In clinical negligence, he addresses issues like delayed cancer diagnosis, surgical errors, and traumatic births. In personal injury claims, he covers serious road traffic accidents, unprovoked assaults, and work-related incidents.
Nusrat specializes in all aspects of perinatal psychiatric injury, often dealing with cases involving traumatic instrumental deliveries (failed forceps, ventouse), emergency caesarean sections, retained products of conception, and stillbirth. His expertise in handling such traumatic incidents with empathy and sensitivity distinguishes him from his competitors. He prioritizes quality, efficiency and approachability when preparing complex reports, knowing that they will be used as evidence by lawyers representing the claimant or defendant. Regularly discussing cases through teleconferences with legal professionals, Nusrat ensures his reports are thorough and reliable.
From Founding Peak Medicolegal Services to Award-Winning Success
Nusrat’s milestones include establishing Peak Medicolegal Services Ltd in 2019 and consistently growing the company’s turnover and profit each year, even after surviving the pandemic. Over the past two years, he has expanded the company boardroom to include his wife as a Company Director and his son as Company Secretary. Achieving the highest turnover and profits in the last tax year was a significant milestone for the company, allowing him to reduce his NHS hours as a Consultant Psychiatrist and devote more time to his private company.
He is now reaping the rewards of his hard work and dedication. His proudest achievement as CEO was being selected as the Winner of “Medicolegal Expert of the Year (UK) 2023” in the Lawyer Monthly Expert Witness Awards in December 2023.
Seizing Opportunities in the Medicolegal Industry
Nusrat emphasizes the importance of prioritizing innovation and staying ahead of industry trends to maintain a competitive edge. He ensures he remains up-to-date with developments in the medicolegal field by attending conferences, participating in courses, and reading relevant articles and magazines. LinkedIn also serves as a valuable tool for observing updates from lawyers and staying informed about industry changes.
Nusrat believes that in business, it’s crucial not to remain stagnant. Identifying and seizing new opportunities is essential, as failing to do so will allow competitors to step in. He subscribes to the philosophy, “He who dares wins,” which means actively seeking potential new clients, law firms, or opportunities to present at conferences and deliver teaching. Over the years, he has been an invited speaker at conferences and webinars aimed at lawyers, a strategy that has proven effective in keeping him at the forefront of the industry.
Building Relationships and Empowering Future Leaders
Nusrat believes in compassionate leadership, which to him means being ready to listen to, understand, and empathize with team members. He focuses on building relationships and involving team members in decision-making, which requires humility. Leadership, in Nusrat’s view, should be about collaboration rather than making all the decisions and expecting the team to follow.
Nusrat considers himself fortunate to seek counsel from his wife, an incredibly smart and astute lady, and from his two older children, both of whom are at university and serve as sounding boards for business strategy.
Beyond his family, Nusrat is a fan of American leadership guru Brendon Burchard. Burchard’s ideas on leadership captivated Nusrat when he first encountered him through social media. Many of Burchard’s concepts have become mantras for Nusrat in both his business and his work as an NHS Consultant Psychiatrist. Burchard emphasizes the importance of envisioning a brighter future, enlisting the best people for your team, and encouraging and empowering them to become leaders themselves. For Nusrat, good leadership is about creating successful leaders through such practices.
Family, Resilience, and Adapting Through Challenges
Nusrat’s motivation stems from two primary sources. Firstly, he is driven by a deep desire to provide for his wife and three children, who he feels very fortunate to have in his life. His commitment to his role as a provider is fueled by the financial hardships he faced, especially during the early days of private practice. Secondly, Nusrat’s working-class roots also play a significant role in his motivation. As the son of Pakistani immigrants who came to the UK in the 1960s seeking a better life, he understands the sacrifices his parents made. His father worked various low-paid jobs, including in factories, woollen mills, restaurants, and even as a bus conductor, while his mother primarily cared for Nusrat and his three siblings, although she did work at a school at one point too.
Reflecting on his parents’ journey and sacrifices for him to receive a university education and train as a doctor, Nusrat finds a natural internal drive to excel in his profession and business.
One of the biggest challenges for his business occurred in 2020 with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. His company was only a year old when the lockdown began, and social restrictions made face-to-face examinations of claimants impossible. This situation threatened to shut down his business, causing a significant drop in income and profits. Instead of accepting defeat, Nusrat chose to adapt. He expanded his remote examination services through video consultations on platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams. By offering video consultations, he kept his business operational. Over time, the demand for remote instructions grew, allowing Nusrat’s business to survive the pandemic and extend its reach across the UK and beyond, including places like Ireland, Gibraltar and the Isle of Man. Today, about 70% of his instructions are for remote examinations.
The lesson Nusrat learned from this experience is the importance of adaptability and flexibility in business. He acknowledges that the environment will change and there will be ups and downs. Endurance and the ability to adapt are crucial for building and sustaining a successful business. As he puts it, business is a marathon, not a sprint, and a bit of luck can also play a role.
Blueprint for Success in the Medicolegal Industry
Nusrat’s advice to aspiring entrepreneurs looking to enter the medicolegal industry is to be prepared to work hard to establish yourself. Success doesn’t come overnight; it requires dedication and often burning the midnight oil. Finding a good mentor is crucial. For Nusrat, Dr. Gary Everson, the owner of Parkhead Consultancy in Sheffield, has been invaluable. As a retired General Practitioner and Expert Witness, Dr. Everson has provided Nusrat with advice and support, especially during challenging times in his business career. Nusrat describes him as a true gentleman. He also emphasizes the importance of continuous learning through courses and the power of networking. Staying current with industry trends and connecting with others in the field are essential for growth and success.
Sustained Growth and Diversification in Expert Witness Services
Nusrat envisions a future where his company continues to grow and thrive. He believes that maintaining year-on-year growth hinges on his ability to remain productive and responsive to the increasing demand for his expertise from lawyers. Ensuring a healthy work-life balance is crucial to achieving this, as burnout can hinder long-term success. Drawing inspiration from Brendon Burchard, Nusrat emphasizes the importance of focusing on the long game. This involves spending quality time with family and loved ones and taking regular breaks and holidays.
Nusrat is also proactive about diversifying his business. He recognizes the vulnerability that comes with a business heavily reliant on his personal expertise. To address this, he is considering the potential of expanding to build a team of expert witnesses. This strategy would not only mitigate the risks associated with a single point of expertise but also create opportunities for further growth and development within his field.
