Inquests
Kate is an appointed Assistant Coroner in Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen.
The daughter of a Pathologist, Kate grew up with inquests as a normal part of life.
A highly skilled and experienced advocate, Kate has been instructed across a breadth of interested persons in inquests from Detention Officers concerned with deaths in custody to road traffic collisions.
Kate has extensive jury experience and is instructed in article 2 inquests where her extensive jury advocacy facilitates efficient, effective and constructive handling of her cases.
Kate is able to offer cross-jurisdictional instructions where criminal charges and inquests both arise due to her criminal law experience and additional expertise in this area.
In addition to her first class legal knowledge, Kate has a qualification in medical terminology, allowing her an easy and in depth grasp of complex medical issues in the inquest context. Moreover, her relaxed and clear communication combine to ensure even the most complex of concepts can be explained in her easy to understand way, ensuring parties are able to fully engage and participate in the inquest process.
Kate is a thorough and efficient barrister with an approachable and reassuring manner. Lay clients report that her representation provides a calming reassurance which “takes away all the stress of the process”. Professional clients report that her work is “comprehensive” and she is a “pleasure to work with”.
Kate has undertaken training in respect of questioning of vulnerable witnesses, and her advocacy has been described by the Court of Appeal as “spirited and powerful” and “helpful, clear and concise”.
Recent Inquests
- Touching the death of HK – instructed for the family in an inquest of an 18 month old child who died following a change of hospital protocol
- Touching the death of MN – instructed for a Detention Officer in an inquest arising from a death in custody
- Touching the death of the C Family – instructed via insurers for an HGV driver who had been involved in a collision in which three generations of the same family were killed following their car hitting a defect in a road surface.
