
On 9 September 2024, a statutory public inquiry opened in...Read more
‘‘A very effective advocate for her client’s interests: forensically smart and a class act." - Legal 500 2025
‘‘Fiona is a powerful advocate with a huge knowledge of the law, tenacious and determined. One of the stand-out individuals in actions against the police practice." - Legal 500 2025
‘‘Clients absolutely love her. A fierce advocate, incredibly intelligent and always a calming presence. A real joy to work with." - Legal 500 2024
"Fiona is an exceptional barrister. Her written work is excellent. She is extremely focused on the detail while having a good eye for the big picture. She is highly respected and regarded as a phenomenal barrister." - Chambers & Partners 2024
"Fiona is superb. An expert in her field who is always able to provide advice and advocacy skills of a consistently high level. She is excellent with clients." - Chambers & Partners 2024
"Fiona is just so respected in our world. She is tactically very astute; on her feet she is relentless in the most effective way." - Chambers & Partners 2023
Fiona practises in human rights and public law and is well known for her work in headline inquests and public inquiries including in relation to police use of fatal restraint, the care of those in mental health crisis, the protection of women from violent partners, police firearms operations and the Undercover Policing and Grenfell Tower public inquiries. She acted for 77 of the families bereaved by the Hillsborough Disaster at the new inquests and for 600 claimants in group litigation for misfeasance in public office against South Yorkshire Police.
She has recently resolved several high value private law claims against police forces, local authorities, health authorities and private individuals (complicit in human enslavement) most involving complex arguments at the intersection between the common law and human rights, and she has been instructed in a range of public law challenges engaging Articles 2, 3 and 8 ECHR, the police regulatory regime, race discrimination and/or women’s rights including before the Supreme Court in R (W80) v IOPC [2023] UKSC 24 and Re Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission [2018] UKSC 27.
Fiona has a particular interest in the strategic use of private and public law remedies allied with alternative dispute resolution on behalf of victims of human rights abuses.
She is head of our Inquests and Inquiries and Actions Against the Police teams and co-presents an annual advanced Actions Against the Police course for the Legal Action Group. Fiona was awarded “Public Services and Charities Silk of the Year” by Legal 500 in 2023.
Before transferring to the bar in 2013, Fiona was a solicitor for 20 years and in 1998 co-founded leading civil liberties firm, Bhatt Murphy. In 1992 she co-founded British Irish Rights Watch; a charity dedicated to exposing violations of international human rights law in Northern Ireland during the conflict and to promoting transitional justice principles during the peace process.
Fiona has specialised in claimant police law since 1992. Her practice includes private and public law, inquests and inquiries. She has been involved in a number of the test cases in this area and has extensive experience of achieving successful trial outcomes and substantial out-of-court settlements. She has extensive knowledge and experience in broader regulatory law contexts including in relation to the medical and nursing professions, prison, probation and immigration services, social services and the building professions.
Her notable cases include successful challenges to the outcome of independent investigations by the IPCC (Green and Rahman) and in respect of failures by the DPP to prosecute police officers (O'Brien and Ahmad), the Court of Appeal guideline case on assessment of damages in police cases (Thompson), securing unlawful killing conclusions at inquests concerning excessive use of state force and police misconduct (Jimmy Mubenga, Hillsborough Inquests and Richard O’Brien) and has secured several six figure compensation awards.
Fiona is an experienced negotiator and has a keen interest in alternative dispute resolution.
The representation of families at controversial inquests involving allegations of excessive force, malpractice and neglect is a mainstay of Fiona’s practice.
Fiona is currently instructed in several private and Human Rights Act claims on behalf of bereaved families and has extensive experience of resolving such claims.
As a solicitor Fiona gained extensive experience in representing the families of those who have died in custody including Richard O’Brien (unlawful killing), Simon Allen (state neglect) and Kevin Jacobs (state neglect).
In 2006, Fiona was commissioned by the Hon Mr Justice Blake to prepare an opinion for his review of the controversial deaths at Deepcut Barracks.
Fiona has a specialist public law practice focusing upon decisions reached by the police and those responsible for police oversight together with public law issues arising from her involvement in inquests and inquiries.
Fiona’s work on behalf of bereaved families has also led to her involvement in a number of public law cases as a solicitor including R (Hurst) v HM Coroner for North London [2007] 2 AC 189 (which concerned the coronial jurisdiction to investigate Article 2 systemic failings following the conclusion of a related homicide prosecution and the temporal reach of the Human Rights Act) and R (Keith Lewis) v HM Coroner for Mid and North Division of the County of Shropshire [2010] 1 WLR 1836 (which concerned the means by which jury verdicts should be elicited post-Middleton).
Similarly, her work on behalf of victims of police misconduct led to her involvement in successful challenges to chief officers, the DPP and IPCC including in relation to a decision to permit a senior police officer to retire and thus escape the reach of misconduct proceedings (R (Coghlan) v The Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police [2005] ACD 34) and to a decision by the DPP not to prosecute police officers (R v DPP ex parte O’Brien, RCJ 1997).