Public inquiry procedure


Produced in partnership with Jim Duffy of 1COR
Practice notes

Public inquiry procedure


Produced in partnership with Jim Duffy of 1COR

Practice notes
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The procedure by which a public inquiry is conducted will vary significantly from one inquiry to the next. Even for inquiries established under the Inquiries Act 2005 (IA 2005), the associated inquiry rules are not particularly prescriptive as to how they ought to be conducted.

Similarly, there is a dearth of official guidance. The Cabinet Office’s Inquiries Guidance: Guidance for Inquiry Chairs and Secretaries and Sponsor Departments was described by a witness giving evidence to the House of Lords Select Committee on the Inquiries Act 2005 as ‘frankly…no use at all’.

This Practice Note focuses on statutory rather than non-statutory inquiries. For background reading, see Practice Note: Public inquiries.

Key stages of an inquiry

In practice most inquiries roughly follow a number of key steps:

  1. •

    the announcement of the inquiry, its terms of reference and the appointment of a chair/panel

  2. •

    the opening of the inquiry

  3. •

    engaging an inquiry secretary, inquiry staff, a solicitor to the inquiry and counsel to the inquiry

  4. •

    obtaining and securing evidence

  5. •

    initial investigations, scoping exercises, and relevancy checks—this usually

Jim Duffy
Jim Duffy

1COR

 Jim Duffy’s practice spans clinical negligence, inquests and inquiries, personal injury, human rights and employment.

He is a member of the Attorney General’s ‘C’ Panel of Counsel and has particular experience of prison law claims, acting on both sides. He regularly advises in cases involving parole board decisions, security categorisations, and personal injury claims brought in a prison context.

In 2013-14 Jim acted as Judicial Assistant to Lord Reed and Lord Hodge at the UK Supreme Court and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Jim regularly acts for families, NHS Trusts, doctors and patients in clinical negligence claims.

In July 2018, Jim was led by Elizabeth-Anne Gumbel QC for the appellant children in CN & GN v. Poole Borough Council. The Supreme Court considered whether and in what circumstances local authorities might owe a duty at common law to children at risk of harm.

He is an experienced inquest practitioner, regularly appearing for bereaved families, medical providers and government departments.

Jim is experienced in public inquiries and is instructed in the Undercover Policing Inquiry chaired by Sir John Mitting. He also appears in employment claims and has acted for claimants and government departments in cases relating to TUPE, unfair dismissal, whistleblowing and discrimination.

Prior to transferring to the Bar, Jim spent three years working as a solicitor, first qualifying in Scotland and then in England & Wales. He represented participants in the Coalition Government’s ‘Back to Work’ schemes, Kenyan nationals accused of involvement in the 2010 Al-Shabaab ‘World Cup’ bombings in Kampala, and families unlawfully detained at Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre.  He also represented civilians and the families of British soldiers in claims relating to the Iraq war.

Jim graduated from the University of Glasgow in 2005 with a First in Law with French Language and the class prize. He previously spent a year at Paul Cézanne Université in Aix-en-Provence. As a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, he obtained an LL.M from the University of Toronto in 2007.

Jim went on to intern at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva before training as a solicitor at Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP.

He has carried out teaching and research in public law at the University of Glasgow and assisted the Council of Europe in relation to police brutality and the rule of law in Eastern European states. A former Editor of the UK Human Rights Blog, he continues to sit on its editorial team.

In 2016, Jim was one of four barristers in England & Wales to be selected for an exchange to the Paris Bar where he addressed the Conseil de l’Ordre des Avocats de Paris on advocates’ duties towards protected parties.

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Money ordered to be paid by one party to another in respect of the costs incurred in the course of litigation, in bringing or defending a claim.

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