Inquests & Inquiries
Our growing inquests team is instructed in a broad range of coronial work and appear regularly in inquests, including complex Article 2 and jury inquests. We represent the full range of Interested Persons, including corporate bodies and companies, company directors, local authorities, hospital trusts and health professionals, government departments and bereaved families.
The inquest work in which we are instructed arises out of, amongst other things, crime, health and safety, professional discipline and regulatory proceedings. Our expertise in each of these practice areas means that we are ideally placed to advise and represent interested persons in the most complex of cases and readily appreciate how representation at inquests can impact subsequent criminal, health and safety, professional discipline or regulatory proceedings.
We are frequently instructed in inquests before or after criminal proceedings and/or regulatory proceedings arising from the same facts, and therefore can provide continuity in advice and representation for the benefit of our clients.
Notable inquests involving health and safety and product liability include:
- Representing the tram driver in the Croydon tram crash inquest
- Representing the Fire Service at the inquest concerning the fire in Cheshunt Newgrange Care Home (having been instructed prior to the inquest in the prosecution of Newgrange Care Home for fire safety offences)
- Representing a local government trading standards department in multiple inquests concerning fires caused by Beko household fridge-freezers
Notable inquests involving professional regulatory and disciplinary issues:
- Representing a psychotherapist in an inquest concerning the death of an inpatient at a hospital psychiatric unit
- Representing a pharmacist who dispensed the wrong dose of warfarin to the deceased, causing death
- Representing the bereaved family in an inquest concerning the suicide of a man with a history of depression and alcohol dependency after he was discharged from A&E, having presented with suicidal thoughts
Notable inquests involving government departments and police authorities:
- Representing the Ministry of Justice in the inquest concerning the death of a man held in the cells at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on one of the hottest days of the year
- Representing a Detention Officer in an inquest concerning a death in a police cell following his arrest
- Representing a Chief Constable in an inquest concerning a death in police custody
As a result of our strength in advocacy, members of Chambers have been involved in some of the largest and most high profile public inquiries and reviews in recent years.
Our expertise in a broad range of practice areas, including criminal and regulatory law, means that we appreciate the opportunities and risks that involvement in a public or other inquiry can present for the full range of participants, including government departments, organisations and individuals.
The inquiries and reviews in which we have been involved cover subjects and issues as broad as:
- The criminal justice system (Undercover Policing Inquiry)
- Financial misconduct (Dame Linda Dobbs Review into HBOS Reading)
- Media (Leveson Inquiry)
- Detainees and abuse (Detainee Inquiry)
- Conflict and war (Bloody Sunday Inquiry, Rosemary Nelson Inquiry)
- Rail accidents (Southall Rail Inquiry)
- Immigration (Hinduja Passport Inquiry)
Members of Chambers are also regularly involved in Traffic Commissioner’s public inquiries.