UK Public Inquiries

A public inquiry can be triggered solely by the existence of "public concern". Our highly skilled team can assist with conducting this delicate and complex process, recognising the principle of candour and transparency when appropriate.

Why work with our Public Inquiries team

The Inquiry Act 2005 is the governing piece of legislation in the UK that covers (amongst other things) who has the power to establish a public inquiry, the rules governing evidence, statements, and disclosure as well as the appointment of the inquiry panel.

Public inquiries are usually high profile, time-consuming, and highly complicated. In addition to this, they are becoming more prominent than ever with around 69 commenced in the UK between 1990 and 2017, three times more than in the previous 30 years. This makes being able to deal with them effectively increasingly important year by year.

Although in the UK such inquiries are initiated and partly funded by the government (but run independently), their findings can lead to criticisms, which often result in criminal or civil liabilities. Our public inquiries team can help mitigate this.

Drawing on our experience working on, and being actively involved in, some of the most significant public inquiries in the UK, our expert lawyers can navigate you through the importance of handling the requirements of the inquiry with candour and transparency.

Our clients benefit from:

The highest quality legal and technical advice alongside 24/7 support of our Tier 1 ranked Health & Safety team, specialist healthcare, police, public, and other sector experts as well as our unparalleled investigations expertise.
Fast, cost-effective reviews, collection and disclosure of huge volumes of evidence and documents (up to millions) – we can quickly scale our capacity by utilising AI and our Relativity product, coupled with our Mindcrest offering.
A network of specialist chambers and barristers to support both organisations running public inquires or those in question.
Regular client briefing sessions and upfront discussions about costs.
Assistance with witness statements.
Strong media and reputational management support from the outset through our Crisis and Incident Management Service offering and specialist PR partners.
Response to complex document requests and questions from authorities, as well as police.
For public sector clients we offer advice to executive officers and elected members based on our intimate knowledge of the internal workings of local authorities.

Testimonials

“DWF provides user-friendly and bespoke support. The team are responsive and always meet tight deadlines. The team are professional, experienced in their specialist fields and well informed.”

Chambers and Partners UK 2022, Local government