Simon Clegg, Toby Coupe and Kate Wilson appointed to the Attorney General’s Regional panel

Simon Clegg, Toby Coupe and Kate Wilson appointed to the Attorney General’s Regional panel

We are pleased to announce that three of our tenants have been selected as panel counsel for the Attorney General. Together with Janine Wolstenholme and Kirsten Mercer, we now have five members who may undertake instruction from all government departments

Administered by the Government Legal Department (“GLD”), the Attorney General’s panels of counsel consist of over 400 barristers who undertake civil, regulatory and public work on behalf of the government. This has already seen chambers play a key role in several inquests and judicial review proceedings.

The panel system is made up of London Panels, a Regional Panel and a Public International Law Panel – each of which is split into three: ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’.

Both Simon Clegg and Toby Coupe have been appointed to the ‘B’ panel, whilst Kate Wilson joins the ‘C’ panel.  The appointments are for a period of five and a half years and commenced on 3 April 2018.

‘B’ panel counsel deal with substantial cases but not in general as complex as those handled by the ‘A’ panel. ‘C’ panel members will often become the ‘A’ and ‘B’ panel members of the future and so will be expected to show the potential to join the ‘A’ panel. Click here for more information about the government panel(s).

With the GLD recently opening a regional centre in Leeds, we are pleased to be an active part of the fast growing regional legal sector in the UK.

Simon Clegg is an established civil fraud practitioner and a Grade-3 prosecutor. He prosecutes and defends in serious cases brought by the Environment Agency, Health & Safety Executive and local authorities. He often provides pre-charge advice in relation to large-scale operations.

Toby Coupe is ranked in Tier 1 for ‘Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence’ in The Legal 500 (2017). He is is predominantly instructed to act on behalf of insurance companies, local authorities, NHS trusts and the MIB; in respect of claims involving fatal accidents and life-changing injuries.

Kate Wilson is well-versed in personal injury matters including clinical negligence, employer’s liability and public liability. She has a particular interest in coroner’s inquests particularly those relating to deaths arising out of failures in medical care, dangerous driving and death in state custody (Article 2 Inquests).

Janine Wolstenholme has been on the ‘B’ panel since 2010. She is highly experienced in the Coroner’s Court (coroner and jury) representing interested parties in inquests involving deaths in custody, neglect, medical malpractice, mental health, substance abuse, including NPS, and road traffic accidents.

Kirsten Mercer has been on the ‘B’ panel since 2012 and so has acted in several inquests where there has been a death in custody plus employment matters arising in public sector cases. She is a Grade-3 prosecutor, particularly interested in difficult disclosure issues.

Contact their clerks:

Francine Kirk on 0113 202 8605

Madeleine Gray on 0113 202 8603

Talia Webster on 0113 202 8603

Jordan Millican on 0113 213 5207

Ricky Kimachia on 0113 213 5252

Harrison Browne on 0113 213 5217

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