<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Parklane Plowden Chambers has appointed Paul Clarke as senior practice director for civil and employment.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Paul's addition completes our new management structure. Paul is pictured above with (L) Senior Practice Director Stephen Render who heads our chancery and commercial and family teams, and (R) Martin Beanland, Head of Service &amp; Finance Director.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Paul joins from Kings Chambers, where he clerked for almost 30 years and was most recently responsible for the employment, personal injury, clinical negligence, sports law and court of protection practices.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As senior practice director, Paul is working with the heads of the civil and employment teams alongside individual members to identify and implement business growth strategies. Paul’s wealth of experience will enhance the set’s clerking team and help them continue to deliver high levels of service and support to clients.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In its 2025 rankings, barristers’ directory, <em>Chambers &amp; Partners</em>, placed Parklane Plowden as Band 1 across its chancery; clinical negligence; employment; and personal injury practice areas. Additionally, the set was ranked Band 2 for inquests and inquiries.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Commenting on his new appointment, Paul said: “I am delighted to be taking on this new role and joining such an established and prestigious set of chambers.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“We have an exceptional and well recognised team of barristers working closely with highly regarded and experienced support staff. This is a potent combination as we look to continue providing high level advice, advocacy and client care.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“The North Eastern circuit has a thriving legal market, and I am excited to play my part in PLP’s ongoing vision for growth.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Formed in 2007 following the merger of Parklane Chambers in Leeds and Plowden Chambers in Newcastle, Parklane Plowden is home to 118 members.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Welcoming Paul to PLP, head of chambers, James Murphy, said: “Paul has extensive experience as a leading clerk, and we are pleased he is joining us as a senior practice director.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“At PLP, our civil and employment barristers have an established leading reputation and these practice areas represents a core growth opportunity for our set across the North Eastern Circuit.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“Having Paul on board will be instrumental in achieving this. We look forward to leveraging his leadership and management expertise to ensure high quality services are maintained for our clients as we go from strength to strength.” &nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Chambers &amp; Partners</em> also placed Parklane Plowden as Band 1, the highest ranking a chambers can achieve, across family and children and Band 2 for family: matrimonial finance.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 2025 edition of legal directory <em>The Legal 500</em> ranks Parklane Plowden Chambers as a tier one barristers’ set across five practice areas. These include chancery, probate and tax; clinical negligence; employment; family and children law and personal injury.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In addition, <em>The Legal 500</em> recommends 79 of the set’s barristers across 11 practice areas.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>HM Senior Coroner for Cornwall and the Scilly Isles v Elaine Rowe, Helen Price, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust [2024] EWHC 2673 (Admin)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Facts</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Before Lord Justice Holroyde and Mrs Justice McGowan, HM Senior Coroner for Cornwall and the Scilly Isles applied for orders quashing the two inquests into the death of Edward John Masters and Mary Helen Rooker, held in 2017 and 2013 respectively. The application was made pursuant to Section 13(1)(b) of the Senior Coroners Act 1988 on the ground that new facts and evidence made it necessary and desirable for a fresh investigation into the deaths. All of the interested parties were aware of, and supported, the applications.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mr Masters underwent elective surgery in 2017 to repair an abdominal aortic aneurysm. After initial recovery from surgery, his condition deteriorated and he suffered internal bleeding leading to cardiac arrest. He sadly died later that evening. The original inquest into Mr Masters death concluded that he had died from a known complication of the elective surgical procedure.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mrs Rooker also underwent surgery for the repair of an abdominal aortic aneurysm in 2012. Post-operatively, she suffered internal bleeding. A laparotomy could not identify an obvious cause of the bleeding, and she underwent a further procedure when a scan revealed a perforation of the bowel. Her condition continued to decline over the following days and she sadly died 12 days after the initial surgery. The original inquest concluded that Mrs Rooker’s death was partly caused by peritonitis, a recognised complication of the surgery.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Fresh Evidence</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In January 2019, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust requested the Royal College of Surgeons to undertake a review of their vascular surgery unit, including the work of the surgeon who had operated on Mr Masters’ and Mrs Rooker. Serious patient safety issues in relation to the patients of that surgeon were identified by those conducting the review.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The fresh evidence identified shortcomings in the consent process and in the care and treatment of Mr Masters during his operation.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>An expert report, not available at the time of the original inquest, by Professor Bradbury (a Professor of Vascular Surgery and Consultant Vascular and Endovascular surgeon), pointed towards negligence in relation to Mrs Rooker’s surgery on three parts: (i) proceeding to operate despite low platelet count; (ii) lack of informed consent; and (iii) unacceptable standards of treatment.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In both cases, the evidence raised the possibility that their deaths were contributed to by acts/omissions on the part of the surgeon and by a collective failure of care and systems at the hospital.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Legal test</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In these circumstances, the Court was required to consider the single question as to whether the interests of justice made a further inquest either necessary or desirable.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In doing so, they applied the Hillsborough case (<em>HM Attorney General v HM Coroner of South Yorkshire (West)</em> [2012] EWHC 3783) where the&nbsp; Lord Judge CJ had stated “…<em>it seems to us elementary that the emergence of fresh evidence which may reasonably lead to the conclusion that the substantial truth about how an individual met his death was not revealed at the first inquest, will normally make it both desirable and necessary in the interests of justice for a fresh inquest to be ordered</em>.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Findings</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Court was satisfied, on the fresh evidence before it, that it was necessary and desirable in the interests of justice for another inquest to be directed in both cases. The determination and findings of the original inquests were quashed. The Court noted it was not necessary for the Coroner to prove that a fresh investigation would probably lead to a different outcome, but on the evidence before them in each case, it was considered likely in any event.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The judgment can be found <a href="https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2024/2673.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Parklane Plowden Chambers has been ranked as a Band One set across five practice areas and a Band Two set across two practice areas in the Chambers &amp; Partners 2025 rankings.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Chambers has been listed as Band One, the highest ranking a set can achieve, across the Chancery, Clinical Negligence, Employment, Family: Children and Personal Injury practice areas.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Parklane Plowden is the sole set to be ranked in Band One for both Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury on the North Eastern Circuit.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Additionally, the set has been ranked as a Band Two set for both Family: Matrimonial Finance and Inquests &amp; Public Inquiries.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Individual members received 67 rankings in this year’s edition across:<br><br>• Chancery<br>• Clinical Negligence<br>• Commercial Dispute Resolution<br>• Employment<br>• Family: Children<br>• Family: Matrimonial Finance<br>• Inquests &amp; Public Inquiries<br>• Personal Injury<br>• Personal Injury: Industrial Disease<br>• Professional Negligence<br>• Real Estate Litigation</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Parklane Plowden Chambers has been ranked as a Tier 1 set across five practice areas and a Tier 2 set across two practice areas in The Legal 500 2025 rankings.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Chambers has been listed as Tier 1, the highest ranking a set can achieve, across the chancery, probate and tax; clinical negligence; employment; family and children law and personal injury practice areas.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Parklane Plowden is also the only set to be ranked for both chancery, probate and tax and clinical negligence on the North Eastern circuit.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Additionally, the set has been ranked as Tier 2 for both inquests &amp; inquiries and court of protection &amp; community care.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Individual members received 83 rankings in this year’s edition across:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:list --> <ul class="wp-block-list"><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Court of Protection and Community Care</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Chancery, Probate and Tax</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Clinical Negligence</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Commercial Litigation</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Employment</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Family: Children and Domestic Violence</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Family: Divorce and Financial Remedy</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Personal Injury</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Property and Construction</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Professional Negligence</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Inquests and Inquiries</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Leila Benyounes spoke at the Action Against Medical Accidents conference in Manchester.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Leila discussed disclosure and expert evidence, and covered areas including:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:list --> <ul class="wp-block-list"><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Obligations to disclose and management by coroners</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Typical documents to consider on disclosure</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>When should a coroner appoint an independent medical expert</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>Instructing the expert: Considerations for the coroner’s court, not civil claim</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>How to deal with causation when there is no clear cause of death</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ul> <!-- /wp:list --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The conference was held from the 2nd to the 3rd October at Exchange Chambers in Manchester. For more information, please see the <a href="https://www.avma.org.uk/events/representing-families-at-inquests-a-practical-guide-october-2024/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AvMA website</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Richard Copnall represented the family of two building workers, David Bottomley, 53, and his son Clayton, 17, who died when the platform they were working on fell 14 storeys at the Unity Building in Liverpool in May 2021.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The inquest found there had been a brakes failure in the work platform, which was used to allow workers to move up and down the outside of the building from the seventh floor upwards.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Both deaths were recorded as an accident.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Press coverage - <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2lnjngdd4o" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BBC</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Andrew Scott represented the family of 73-year-old Brenda Preston, who was a resident at the Ventress Hall Care Home.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In 2001, Mrs Preston contracted bacterial meningitis, which resulted in a number of physical conditions. As a result, she had trouble swallowing and was placed upon a 'soft mash diet'.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>On the 25th February 2024 Mrs Preston was given a sandwich by a member of staff at the care home, and was left to eat it without supervision. Mrs Preston choked on the sandwich, suffered a cardiac arrest, and died three days later.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The coroner ruled that neglect contributed to Mrs Preston's accidental death.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Press coverage - <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/2024-09-20/disabled-pensioner-on-mashed-diet-died-after-choking-on-sandwich-in-care-home" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ITV News</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The <a href="https://www.boa.ac.uk/boa-annual-congress-2024/programme-at-a-glance.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BOA's flagship event</a> is taking place from the 17th - 20th September at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Leila is participating today in a session on Coronial Law and Evidence at the Coroner’s Court followed by a Mock Inquest. On the 20th Leila will be on the faculty for the Law for Orthopaedic Surgeons: Avoiding Jeopardy course.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Anna Datta took part in the medico legal session of the conference, “The ‘Difficult’ Joint Report”. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><a href="https://www.parklaneplowden.co.uk/our-barristers/richard-copnall/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Richard Copnall</a> (Instructed by <a href="https://www.isonharrison.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ison Harrison</a>, Leeds) recently represented the family of Matthew Dale at an inquest in Liverpool. Matthew was an adult with a significant learning disability, who was in full time residential care. When unsupervised, he removed padding from his incontinence pad, placed it in his mouth and choked to death.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The coroner agreed with the family’s submissions that the circumstances required the issuing of a prevention of future deaths report to the government [<a href="https://www.parklaneplowden.co.uk/app/uploads/2024/06/Matthew-Dale-Prevention-of-future-deaths-report-2023-0028_Published.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">you can see a copy here</a>]. Then government has now published its response [<a href="https://www.parklaneplowden.co.uk/app/uploads/2024/06/Reg-28-PFD-Response-Coroners-Report-DALE.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">you can see a copy here</a>]. The key points are that the Government has, since the inquest, published:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:list {"ordered":true,"type":"lower-alpha"} --> <ol style="list-style-type:lower-alpha" class="wp-block-list"><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>The “Care Workforce Pathway which provides (for the first time) a national career structure for those working in adult care.</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --><!-- wp:list-item --> <li>A new professional qualification for those employed in Adult Social Care, which includes training in health and safety and life support and is backed by £50 million to support 37,000 individuals to enrol.</li> <!-- /wp:list-item --></ol> <!-- /wp:list --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Matthew’s case provides a powerful illustration of the way in which a thorough inquest, with an experienced legal team can contribute to improvements in public policy.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Ministry of Justice has published a report on Coroners statistics 2023: England and Wales.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The headline findings of the report are that the number of deaths reported to the coroners in 2023 (195,000) are down by 6% compared to 2022. The proportion of registered deaths has also decreased three percentage points compared to 2022.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Despite the drop in deaths and referrals there was a 2% increase in the number of inquests opened in 2023 compared to 2022.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There were 39,469 inquest conclusions recorded in 2023, up 11% from 2022. The most common short form conclusions were death by misadventure (25% of all conclusions), death by natural causes (14%), and suicide (13%).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It is also of note for practitioners that there was a 41% increase in the number of Prevention of Future Deaths reports published. 569 reports were published in 2023, compared to 404 in 2022. Both the South West and the East Midlands issued more than double the number of Preventable Future Deaths reports in 2023 than in 2022, going from 28 and 21 to 60 and 43, respectively.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The full report is available <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/coroners-statistics-2023/coroners-statistics-2023-england-and-wales" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a> and the statistical tables (for those that are particularly keen) are available <a href="https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fmedia%2F663b7c1a4d8bb7378fb6c3d8%2FCoroners_Statistics_Annual_2023_Tables.ods&amp;wdOrigin=BROWSELINK" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->