Email: PracticeStaff_TeamT@matrixlaw.co.uk
Matrix has a strong range of expert and committed practitioners in Inquest law as well as in Public Inquiries.
Members of Matrix have appeared in many of the leading Inquest cases, such as Middleton (the application of Article 2 to Inquests), Jamieson (circumstances where “neglect” may be returned) and Smith (whether Articles 1 and 2 apply to the Inquests into the deaths of soldiers on deployment overseas). They are regularly instructed in a wide range of Inquests including the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed; the loss of ten men following the shooting down of Hercules XV179; and Harry Stanley, which established the key requirements of Article 2 of the ECHR in relation to fatal shootings by police officers.
Members of Matrix have also been involved in a wide range of Public Inquiries, including, the Al-Sweady, Baha Mousa, Bloody Sunday, BSE, Hutton and Robert Hamill Inquiries. Members have also acted on inquiries overseas including Turks & Caicos Islands Commission of Inquiry.
Matrix members are actively involved in the development of the law in this area, both through casework and through writing and campaigning. A number of members regularly write and lecture on inquest law and related areas; Danny Friedman is co-author of Inquests: A Practitioner’s Guide (LAG), Jonathan Glasson and Julian Knowles are co-authors of the Blackstone’s Guide to the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (OUP, 2010), and Tim Owen QC and Alison Macdonald have written on deaths in custody in their book Prison Law (OUP, 2008).
We cover the full range of work in this area, including:
• Inquests of all lengths and levels of complexity, including complex and controversial cases. These include deaths in custody and at the hands of State agents; deaths in hospital and in the mental health context; military deaths and deaths abroad.
• Judicial review challenges to decisions of coroners: for example, members have successfully challenged refusals to hold inquests into controversial deaths.
• Applications under s.13 of the Coroners Act 1988.
• Related public law challenges, for example challenges to police refusal to bring charges.
• Advising in the immediate aftermath of a death, and liaising with investigatory bodies, including the Independent Police Complaints Commission and the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.
• The application of the European Convention on Human Rights to inquests, including the scope and application of the investigatory obligation under Article 2.
• Applications to the European Court of Human Rights.
• The interplay between inquest law and other areas such as police law, prison law and mental health law.
For further information and a full list of notable cases, download the brochure by clicking the 'downloads' tab below.