Oriel Chambers’ Inquests & Inquiries Group is a team of specialist counsel, who retain a wealth of experience in these challenging areas of practice.

This expertise is reflected in the regularity of instructions to advise and represent families, employers, insurers, police forces, NHS trusts, doctors, nurses, other healthcare professionals and providers, local authorities, central Government Departments (including Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Justice (His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service), Home Office and Department for Work and Pensions and governmental agencies in often complex inquests involving multiple interested persons, including Jamieson, Article 2, jury and non-jury inquests.

The Group's inquest work encompasses all stages of Coroners' investigations and includes:

• preparatory and advisory work for pre-inquest reviews;
• advocacy at pre-inquest reviews;
• conferences and site visits;
• preparatory and advisory work for inquests;
• advocacy at inquests;
• advisory and advocacy work for any ensuing judicial reviews and further appeals.

All areas of Coroners' investigations are covered including, but not limited to:

• fatal accidents at work and in the community;
• Service deaths;
• deaths occasioned by murder and manslaughter where an inquest following criminal proceedings is held pursuant to the Article 2 procedural duty;
• deaths suspected to have resulted from acts and/or omissions of police officers and service police force members;
• deaths in custody and other state detention;
• deaths in hospitals, care homes and other clinical settings, including those suspected to have been contributed to by clinical and/or systemic failings;
• suspected suicides involving psychiatric patients, prisoners/detainees and others.
• deaths in the community suspected to have been contributed to by local authority and/or Government departmental and/or clinical failings;
• deaths in educational settings.

Barristers in the group accept instructions in related civil litigation pursued under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976 and Human Rights Act 1998 and are all members of Chambers' Civil Group.

Tim Holloway and Alexander Frodsham are Assistant Coroners.

The Group's Inquiry work includes statutory inquiries under the Inquiries Act 2005, including the UK Covid-19 Inquiry (https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/).

Since 2023, Tim Holloway has been instructed by the Government Legal Department as an A-Panel lead on behalf of the Cabinet Office in its capacity as a Core Participant in Modules 1 (Resilience and preparedness), 2 (Core UK decision-making and political governance) and 5 (Procurement).