At IMS, we believe our people are our greatest asset. In honor of our incredible team, we are thrilled to go “beyond the bio” and share the personal stories of employees across our organization.
Philip Ashley is an essential member of our IMS visual advocacy team and plays a crucial role in helping law firms tell their clients’ stories clearly and effectively through medical demonstratives.
With a career spanning over four decades, Philip has been a Certified Medical Illustrator (CMI) since 1993. He specializes in creating detailed medical, anatomical, and surgical illustrations—whether hand-drawn, computer-rendered, or animated—to accurately represent injuries and procedures and enhance jurors' understanding of complex medical issues. Read on to learn how Philip found the medical-legal field and what drives his work.
Philip Ashley, Senior Medical Illustrator
Q: How/why did you get into this industry?
A: Over the course of 20 years, I had built a successful career creating illustrations for the medical publishing field. However, over time, I observed my clients seeking more affordable labor overseas—first printing and binding work, then composition and camera work, and then design and illustration work. I had friends who were trial lawyers, and when I let it be known I was interested in doing medical-legal work, the doors opened wide. I have never looked back.
Q: How did you find IMS?
A: The company I worked for, Precise Inc., was acquired by IMS in 2023. When that happened, I decided to stay on board and explore the opportunities available for me and my clients here at IMS. I am very happy I did—it has been a great experience.
Q: What do you like most about your specific department and/or role?
A: As the only medical illustrator at IMS, I am essentially a team of one within the larger visual advocacy department. I work primarily with plaintiff clients but many of my colleagues work with defense clients. However, while I am not often on the same cases as my graphics co-workers, there is a wonderful comradery and sense of team spirit pervasive in our department that always makes me feel included and appreciated.
Q: What internal accomplishment are you most proud of?
A: One thing I am proud of is the simple fact that what I do matters. When in medical publishing, my work helped teach doctors, nurses, surgeons, and veterinarians how to perform their clinical duties for the betterment of their patients. Working now with trial lawyers, I have eight large banker boxes of client files in my office. Each file is a person, family, or entity that has been helped by my work. In small cases or larger ones, my contributions affect the lives of those people who came to our law firm clients for help, and that gives me a tremendous sense of satisfaction.
Q: Are there any stories/memories you would like to share?
A: I was once asked to present at a mediation to help our clients explain the plaintiff’s injuries and surgical procedures. We created a series of illustrations and graphics detailing all their client endured from a motorcycle accident with a speeding delivery truck, and they wanted me as a “second chair” during their presentation. I had never done that before and have not since, but the outcome achieved was a tremendous result for the plaintiff.
Q: What do you think sets IMS apart from competitors or other companies?
A: I would say it is the people. Other companies may have talented people, but I think they would be hard-pressed to find the caliber we have here at IMS. With the dedication to clients, professionalism, level of skills and creativity, collegiality and supportiveness, and the overall positive attitude that exists within all our engagements, I do not believe there is another firm offering all of that, in addition to the broad range of services our entire company provides.
Q: How do the IMS core values align with your own?
A: As my other responses indicate, the core values align 100% at every point.
Q: If you were an attorney-client (or an expert witness), what would you find most valuable about the process at IMS?
A: To me, it is the efficiency of having access to all the services IMS offers under one roof. There are inherent financial, logistical, and time management benefits with a one-stop shop. Since litigation of any scale can be an expensive, time-consuming, and complex enterprise, I would expect that our clients value these efficiencies immensely—and the positive attitude our people always bring to any engagement, no matter how complex or basic.
Q: Do you have any predictions or comments on industry trends?
A: This is not really a novel observation, but our society is clearly much more visually savvy and adept than even 10 years ago. Accordingly, I think more impactful, specific, and elaborate visuals are going to become the norm, even for smaller matters. The public expects this, and it is our job to help clients appreciate the benefits of investing in their presentations and then deliver those demonstratives effectively and within the scope of their budgets and timeframes.
Q: What has been your favorite case to work on so far?
A: One case I worked on recently involved creating illustrations and an animation depicting a surgical error during hip replacement surgery. The defendant's surgeon was alleged to have negligently placed two screws into major vessels of the pelvis, blocking blood flow to the plaintiff’s leg and requiring multiple painful, disfiguring surgeries to repair. Using the plaintiff’s CT studies and 3D modeling techniques, we were able to create a series of indisputable demonstratives—both illustrated and animated—which directly resulted in favorable settlement negotiations for our client.
Learn More
We are grateful for Philip’s medical illustration expertise and dedication to supporting clients in complex medical cases. Together, we win.
Visit the links below to meet the IMS team and learn about our culture and career opportunities.
