Public Inquiries

Members of Brick Court Chambers have been instructed in the leading Public Inquiries of recent years.

These include Lord Saville's Bloody Sunday Inquiry where two teams of Counsel from Chambers appeared, including Counsel to the Inquiry. Work still continues on this as Counsel is assisting Lord Saville in writing his report. A second team was instructed by the Treasury Solicitor on behalf of many soldiers, and dealt with important questions of witness anonymity, resulting in two Court of Appeal hearings. Chambers was also instructed on behalf of the Security Services on anonymity issues in the inquiry into the death of Rosemary Nelson and for a former Governor of Feltham Young Offenders' Institution in Mr Justice Keith's Inquiry into the death in custody of Zahid Mubarek.

Members of Chambers were at the heart of Lord Hutton's Inquiry in 2003 into the death of Dr David Kelly. Leading and junior counsel acted for the Cabinet Office and its witnesses, including the then Prime Minister, his Chief of Staff, his Communications Director and the Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee. Another Chambers Silk led the team for the Ministry of Defence.

Inquiries often focus on issues concerning public health. Members of Chambers were instructed as Counsel to the Inquiry in Lord Phillips' BSE inquiry and in Sir Ian Kennedy's Inquiry into paediatric cardiac care at the Bristol Royal Infirmary. Subsequently, members of Chambers have been instructed in other health-related inquiries, most recently for the Food Standards Agency and the Meat Hygiene Service in Professor Sir Hugh Pennington's Inquiry into a fatal outbreak of Ecoli in schools in Wales.