Thomas Beamont

Inquests

Tom has a busy inquest practice. As a new tenant he was seconded for six months to a leading inquest law firm, appearing almost daily in the Coroners’ Courts. He is often instructed in inquests convened under article 2 of the European Convention of Human Rights, including with a jury.

He acts for families and institutional Interested Persons. He has experience of acting in both the coronial and subsequent civil proceedings arising from the death of a family member.

Tom is ranked in Chambers & Partners and the Legal 500:

• “Thomas is fantastic with clients in very emotive and difficult situations. He is always highly prepared and gets to grips with vast amounts of documentation with ease.”
• “Thomas has a keen eye for detail and delivers high-quality service.”
• “Tom is absolutely excellent. His handling of complex issues and senior individuals is impressive.”
• “Tom is a brilliant barrister asking pertinent questions, having led the groundwork slowly and diligently with witnesses.”
• “Thomas is extremely approachable and has a fantastic and reassuring manner with clients.”
• “He approaches complex cases in a thorough manner and handled an extremely sensitive mediation in the perfect manner. He is articulate, intelligent and an impressive advocate. He works at a level well beyond one you would expect for his year of call.”
• “Tom is a go-to junior for inquests and pre-inquest hearings. His preparation of a case, even when dealing with large amounts of documentation is brilliant. He is always totally prepared, even on urgent instructions with a short turnaround time.” 
• “Thomas is always totally prepared, even on urgent instructions with a short turnaround time. He is good with clients, easy to work alongside and very reliable. His advocacy is very good.”
• “He is a highly impressive junior. He is tactically astute, practical and endlessly approachable.”
• “Thomas is very alive to the issues. He understands how to produce work that meets clients’ expectations and he is good at distilling the issue.”

Selected Cases

• Inquest touching upon the death of TS: Tom acted for the family in this article 2 jury inquest into the death following ingestion of ‘spice’ of a patient detained under the Mental Health Act 1983.
• Inquest touching upon the deaths of PH and SO: Tom acted pro bono for the family in this article 2 inquest which considered procurement systems in the NHS. Prevention of Future Deaths reports were written to several recipients including NHS England and the International Standardization Organization (ISO).
• Inquest touching upon the death of JT: Tom acted for an NHS trust in this article 2 inquest into the death of a patient following attendance by the ambulance service.
• Inquest touching upon the death of EB: Tom acted for the family in this inquest into the death of a toddler from sepsis.
• Inquest touching upon the death of JS: Tom acted for the family in this inquest which led to a Report for the Prevention of Future Deaths to a London university, Universities UK, and the Information Commissioner’s Office.