Local Government & Police Law

1 Crown Office Row’s specialist Police Law team has experience in all aspects of police law.

Members of the team have acted for a number of police forces and national investigatory bodies, including the Metropolitan Police, SOCA, HMRC Criminal Investigations team, and military police forces. Members of the team also act for Claimants. We also have a number of members of chambers who had been developed vetted and security cleared to work on the most sensitive cases. For more information about our members with Developed Vetted Security Clearance, please contact the clerks.

The service offered by chambers covers the following areas:

• judicial review and human rights
• inquests
• inquiries
• disciplinary and misconduct matters
• civil actions: false imprisonment, assault, malicious prosecution, misfeasance, negligence and Human Rights Act claims
• applications on behalf of the police
• acting for police in Court of Protection matters
• disclosure
• licensing
• employment work
• cases before the Investigatory Powers Tribunal
• general operational and other advisory work

Notable cases for include:

• The Pitchford Inquiry into Undercover Policing
• The Leveson Inquiry
• The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry
• The 7/7 Inquiry (for British Transport Police)
• Misconduct cases arising out of non patrols at Atomic Weapons Establishment Burghfield
• Senthilnathan v Commissioner and Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (race discrimination, harassment and victimisation case struck out)
• Hegazy & Others v Commissioner of the Metropolis (claim of unlawful detention and assault brought against MPS officers)
• R (Simpson) v SSHD [2012] EWHC 808 (Admin) (judicial review into police pension and injury benefits)
• Re a complaint of surveillance [2013] UKIPT A1 (about conflicting guidance on surveillance issued by the Office of the Surveillance Commissioners and the Home Office)
• R (on the application of Kammash and Others) v MOD (judicial review of adequacy of Royal Military Police investigation into ‘cold’ allegations of abuse by soldiers in Iraq)
• Stankovic v MDP (wrongful arrest, malicious prosecution, false imprisonment claim by British Army officer accused of spying for the Bosnian Serbs while acting as General Rose’s liaison officer)
• Acting for the MPS in litigation arising from allegations relating to the sexual activities of undercover police officers
• Acting for the Senior Coroner for Birmingham in an application that she re open inquests into deaths
• Acting for police in Court of Protection hearings

For information on our team based in Brighton, please click here.