Author: Bridget Dolan QC

Posts by Bridget Dolan QC

When might a Coroner require an IP to hand over an expert report?

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Drake’s Application for Judicial Review [2025] NIKB 70, 12 December 2025, judgment here. It is clear that litigation privilege cannot arise in respect of reports commissioned for a coroner’s inquisitorial proceedings: the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal (NICA) have already soundly dealt with that point.[1] Bound by House of Lords authority, the NICA held that […]

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Suicide conclusions: A coroner may draw inferences and need not eliminate every other possibility

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Toogood v HM Senior Coroner for Somerset  [2026] EWHC 634 (Admin) 17 March 2026,  judgment here Suicide is usually a covert act. In the absence of a final letter or a recent and clear declaration of suicidal feelings, there will often be no direct evidence of what the deceased intended by an action that sadly […]

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Coronial Law Course: University of Greater Manchester 2026

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Commencing 12 February 2026 The Centre for Contemporary Coronial Law at the University of Greater Manchester  is pleased to announce that the highly successful Coronial Law short course will be offered again, starting on Thursday, 12 February 2026 Designed for practitioners working in, with, or aspiring to join the coronial service, the course blends clear […]

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Public Interest Immunity and Inquests: balancing the public interest

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In the matter of an application by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland for Judicial Review [2025] UKSC 47. Judgment 17 December 2025 here More than 20 years ago 25-year-old Liam Thompson was shot and killed near a gap in a peace line separating nationalist and unionist neighbourhoods in Belfast. No one has ever […]

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‘Island-hopping in a sea of evidence’: when to leave facts to an inquest jury

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R (Rizvi) v HM Assistant Coroner for South London [2025] EWHC 3014 (Admin) judgment 17th Nov 2025 here It has been a long journey for Mrs Rizvi who may now have exhausted all avenues in her attempts to show that the police breached an Article 2 duty owed to her daughter.  Twelve and a half […]

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