Inquests & Public Inquiries
Meredith regularly appears at inquests, and this is an area of her practice she is keen to expand. She is regularly instructed by NHS Trusts, care homes, local authorities and private companies. Her cases often involve physical health provision, mental health provision (including inpatient and community mental health care), suicide, mental capacity, social care, safeguarding, health and safety and road traffic accidents. She has experience of inquests of a particularly sensitive nature such as those involving suicides or the deaths of children or infants.
Meredith has acted as sole counsel in multiple inquests where Article 2 was engaged as well as jury inquests. She also has experience of acting in numerous PIRs which involved complex arguments on scope and the potential engagement of Article 2.
She has experience of acting in inquests in which there is a risk of a Prevention of Future Deaths Report and has made both oral and written submissions on the same. Her extensive personal injury practice means that she is well positioned to handle inquests where a claim has or may be brought in the future.
Meredith’s recent experience of acting as sole counsel in inquests includes:
- A four-day Article 2 inquest representing an NHS trust following the death of a teenager by suicide following their discharge from in-patient mental health care. This inquest involved the added complexity that care was provided across two NHS Trusts;
- A two-week Article 2 jury inquest examining whether systemic failures in the co-ordination of mental health care in the year preceding a man’s death were causative. This inquest involved making submissions following the case of Gorani on the extent to which her client, who was not a public body, ought to be affected by the engagement of Article 2;
- A three-day inquest representing two NHS trusts following the death of a baby from SIDS. This inquest involved the provision of written submissions concerning whether it was open to the coroner to find causation given the scientific research on SIDS;
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-64375560
- A one-day inquest representing an NHS trust following the death from sepsis of a woman who had been discharged from hospital following surgery;
- An inquest representing a care home relating to a death following an unwitnessed fall.
- An inquest representing a care home in respect of the death of a woman a few days after her discharge from the care home. In this case a local authority investigation had found multiple failings in the care provided and the crux of the case involved limiting the scope of both the investigation and conclusions to those matters which were causative. The result was a short form conclusion of natural causes;
- An inquest into the death of a man who was found unresponsive in his sheltered living accommodation concerning safeguarding procedures.
- Various inquests involving highway authorities concerning whether defects in the road surface or the design of road systems were causally related to fatal traffic accidents.
Before joining chambers, Meredith was part of the legal team at the Infected Blood Inquiry – the largest public inquiry in UK history. Meredith joined the inquiry shortly after it formed, when there were fewer than 15 people on the inquiry team (by the time she left there were more than 200). In the early stages of the inquiry Meredith was responsible for travelling around the country to interview and draft statements for unrepresented infected and affected individuals in their homes. She was also responsible for designing the relativity system which would be used by the inquiry to tag and organise disclosure (documents were in the millions, spanning a significant time period, from a broad range of organisations/countries and covering diverse issues). Additionally, Meredith participated in the disclosure exercise and was responsible for drafting reports for Sir Brian Langstaff distilling the disclosure down and highlighting key issues, documents, conclusions and avenues for further exploration.
Meredith also worked on the appeal of a significant Coroner’s decision while working as a judicial assistant in the Court of Appeal.
Selected Cases
View full profile »Awards
- Hardwicke Entrance Award, Lincoln’s Inn (2017)
- Lord Denning Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn (2016)
- Oxford University Press Law Prize for highest graduating LLB student, University of York (2014)
News
- Mark Balysz KC, Mike Atkins, and Meredith Daniel secure non-custodial sentences for directors in trampoline park case involving hundreds of injuries
- Crown Office Chambers are delighted to welcome Meredith Daniel as our newest tenant, after successful completion of her pupillage
Articles
Qualifications
- BPTC, BPP Law School (2017)
- LLM, Distinction (1st in year), University of York (2015)
- LLB Law, First Class Honours with Distinction (1st in year), University of York (2011-2014)
