Fiona Murphy KC > Doughty Street Chambers > London, England > Barrister Profile
Doughty Street Chambers Offices
53-54 DOUGHTY STREET
LONDON
WC1N 2LS
England
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Fiona Murphy KC
Work Department
Position
Fiona Murphy is Joint Deputy Head of Chambers and is ranked in Band 1 by Chambers & Partners 2020 in Police Law and Band 2 in Inquest and Inquiries work.
Career
2013 (1993 – Solicitor, England and Wales)
Fiona Murphy is Joint Deputy Head of Chambers and co-chair of our management board.
Fiona specialises in regulatory work including civil claims against public authorities, judicial review and inquest and inquiry work. She has expertise in both private and public law and represents individuals who seek redress for violations of their human rights.
Many of Fiona’s cases are high-profile: she is currently instructed in the ongoing inquests and public inquiries into the controversial deaths following police restraint of Dalian Atkinson, Darren Cumberbatch and Shane Bryant and the police shootings of Jermaine Baker and Anthony Grainger. She represented 70 individuals in relation to phase 1 of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and is currently representing several women deceived into entering abusive sexual relationships by undercover police officers in relation to their civil claim and before the Undercover Policing Inquiry. She acted for 77 of the families bereaved by the Hillsborough Disaster at the new inquests and is a member of the claimant counsel team in the ongoing group litigation for misfeasance in public office against South Yorkshire Police.
Fiona has a particular interest in remedies to address violence against women and is currently instructed in a number of cases concerning failures by the police to protect victims.
Fiona was one of the founders of leading police law specialist solicitors’ practice, Bhatt Murphy and gained 20 years’ experience as a solicitor conducting complex litigation before transferring to the bar in 2013.
Outside the courts, Fiona has contributed to various inquiries and reviews including the 1997 Butler Inquiry (concerning the handling of deaths in custody by the CPS), the 1997 European Committee on the Prevention of Torture’s investigation into the United Kingdom’s compliance and the United Nations.
Fiona co-presents the annual advanced Actions Against the Police and advanced Inquests Law courses run by the Legal Action Group.
Memberships
Police Actions Lawyers Group
Inquest Lawyers Group
Association of Personal Injury Lawyers
Education
LLB, London School of Economics
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Police law (claimant)
(2023 Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Fiona Murphy KC – Doughty Street Chambers ‘Clients absolutely love her. A fierce advocate, incredibly intelligent and always a calming presence. A real joy to work with.’
London Bar > Inquests and inquiries
(2023 Silks)Ranked: Tier 1With vast experience in representing bereaved families, Doughty Street Chambers is widely recognised for its inquests and inquiries expertise. Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC is acting for the family of Steve Dymond, who took his own life after a polygraph test branded him a “love cheat” on The Jeremy Kyle Show, in the inquest into his death. Jude Bunting KC is active in a number of cases relating to Northern Ireland, including representing the widow of a member of the public killed when they drove into a security forces ambush of IRA members in 1987. Alison Gerry handles cases involving deaths following contact with the police, while Tom Stoate represented an eighteen-year-old woman, on remand awaiting sentencing for robbery at HMP Bronzefield, whose baby died after she gave birth alone in her cell. Fiona Murphy KC took silk in March 2023.