BOOK REVIEW
INQUESTS
A Practitioner's Guide
Third Edition
By Leslie Thomas, Adam Straw, Daniel Machover and Danny Friedman QC
Legal Action Group
ISBN: 978 1 908 407 245
www.lag.org.uk
PROMOTING THE RIGHTS OF BEREAVED PEOPLE: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE ON INQUESTS
NOW IN A NEW THIRD EDITION
An appreciation by Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers
Writing in the foreword to the new third edition of this outstanding and well established practitioner's guide, HHJ Peter Thornton QC, the Chief Coroner for England and Wales, defines the function and value of coroners and therefore inquests.
'Coroners perform an important service,' he points out, adding that this public service is 'first and foremost for bereaved families... and secondly, for the wider public good'.
Explaining that the service is at least 800 years old, he mentions the significant changes that have recently taken place within it, referring to the 'new statutory regime governing the powers and duties of coroners'. It is anticipated that one of the positive results -- including a number of highly important procedural changes -- will be to create a more modern and efficient service aimed at lessening distress for families and also allowing coroners to concentrate on more difficult cases.
For practitioners involved in this sensitive area, an understanding of case law and theory is of course important. But even more important is knowing what to do when faced with the complexities of an inquest -- and this is where this book is especially helpful. It is a plain-speaking guide to the practice and procedure of the coroners' court.
Particularly noteworthy is that the book is written by a team of authors whose expertise has been honed and tested in the arena of actual experience. No mere theorists these. Dedicating the book to 'all bereaved families touched by the inquest process,' each of them has worked on high profile and often controversial cases. Leslie Thomas for example (named Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year 2012 and who, by happy coincidence, took Silk on the day this book was launched) has worked on Hillsborough, as has Adam Straw whose experience has included the cases of Jean Charles de Menezes and Alexander Litvinenko.
Daniel Machover, a specialist in international human rights law, is currently Chair of INQUEST, the organisation dedicated to upholding the rights of bereaved families within the coronial system. Danny Friedman QC, a specialist in crime, human rights, public law and international humanitarian law, also writes the human rights chapter in 'Archbold: Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice.'
In researching, compiling and publishing this book, the LAG (Legal Action Group) perpetuates its noble tradition of producing detailed and thorough guides to the law that are not only of direct practical use for practitioners, but accessible as well, to interested and concerned members of the general public.
Indisputably authoritative and up-to-date, the book is an accessible and valuable resource, as it also contains extensive tables of cases, statutes, statutory instruments and international conventions, plus four appendices that include legislation, precedents and forms. Anyone involved in any or all matters relating to inquests, should certainly consider this book indispensable as you will see it in courtrooms across the country.
The publication date is cited as at February 2014.
