Emily Campbell

Experience and Expertise

Inquests and Inquiries

Emily is an experienced inquest practitioner who is regularly instructed to represent bereaved families, NHS Trusts, prisons, and individual healthcare practitioners in complex inquests including Article 2 and jury inquests. She regularly advises on Article 2, PFD matters and civil claims following the inquest process.

Emily is sensitive to the challenges inquests represent and is at hand to guide whoever she represents through the coronial process.

She has a particular interest in community and hospital mental health cases and deaths occurring in custody and is keen to develop her inquest experience in these areas.

Cases of note

• Representing one of two NHS Trusts in an Article 2 jury inquest concerning the death of a woman in the community who was killed by her son. Her son had been under the care of the community mental health teams of both Trusts at different times.
• Acting for a care home provider in a complex Article 2 inquest concerning a community psychiatric patient who died by suicide.
• Representing the family of a young man who died the morning after discharge from a voluntary psychiatric admission. He overdosed on a prescription medication which was prescribed in error.
• Acting for the family of a man who died following a hospital prescribing error which resulted in a fatal overdose. Emily later settled the civil claim brought on behalf of the estate.
• Representing the family of a woman who died following an avoidable fatal fall after routine knee surgery in a private hospital.
• Representing a police force in a sensitive inquest concerning the death of a toddler where there had been a lengthy police investigation and family court involvement.
• Acting for the police in an inquest touching upon the death of a young woman on a Community Treatment Order where there had been a cross-border missing person investigation.

Emily was instructed in high profile public inquiries including in the Covid-19 Inquiry and the Lampard Inquiry.

Court of Protection

Emily is regularly instructed on behalf of P (via the Official Solicitor, RPRs and other litigation friends), local authorities, NHS Trusts, Health Boards, and Integrated Care Boards in health and welfare proceedings brought under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. She regularly advises on issues concerning mental capacity, best interests and mental health law.

She has experience in appearing before the Court of Protection and High Court in urgent hearings at short notice and often appears against barristers far exceeding her year of call.

Emily has a particular interest in cases involving children and young people, medical treatment cases and cases under the inherent jurisdiction.

Recent cases of note:

• JD: Emily appeared on behalf of P’s father at a contested capacity hearing in which expert conclusions on P’s decision-making capacity in multiple areas was in dispute.
• AB: Emily was instructed by a local authority in long-running welfare proceedings in which P was detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 on several occasions throughout the life of proceedings.
• SR: Emily represented a Responsible Clinician in a complex matter which raised trafficking and immigration law issues.
• JL: Emily represented the applicant local authority at a contested final hearing on P’s residence, care and contact arrangements. The court agreed with the local authority’s submissions in all three areas.
• NM: Emily obtained the court’s authorisation of medical treatment for a child on behalf of an NHS Trust.
• MRA (ongoing): Emily acted for a mental health Trust in ongoing proceedings involving the residence and care of P with complex hoarding behaviours.

Clinical Negligence

Emily has a busy clinical negligence practice acting for both claimants and defendants in a variety of claims involving failures to obtain informed consent, delays in diagnosis, obstetric care, negligently performed surgery, psychiatric claims, Fatal Accident Act cases and healthcare issues arising in the prison context. She is regularly instructed by leading firms to draft pleadings and advise on liability and quantum. Frequently, she also deals with claims arising under the Human Rights Act and civil actions following inquests.

Emily frequently appears in the High Court and County Court for interim hearings, CCMCs and approval hearings on behalf of children or protected parties.

Emily has experience drafting:

• Particulars of Claim and Defences
• Schedules of Loss and Counter-Schedules
• Skeleton arguments
• Advice on liability, quantum and settlement strategy
• Confidential advice on settlement for approval hearings

Police Law

Emily completed her pupillage under the supervision of Elliot Gold and Frances McClenaghan and gained a broad exposure to high profile and sensitive police law matters touching upon police misconduct, human rights, discrimination and civil actions against the police.

Emily has acted for the Appropriate Authority in accelerated misconduct hearings and full misconduct hearings to prosecute disciplinary charges against police officers. Many of her cases have received news coverage.

She accepts instructions in civil actions against the police and advises on claims brought in negligence and under the Human Rights Act.

She has experience conducting civil trials in which her closing submissions have been described as “winning the case.”

Prior to the Bar

Emily has a background in human rights law and policy work.

Prior to the Bar, she worked in the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court funded by the Human Rights Lawyers Association where she worked on the Court’s approach to reparations to child soldier victims. She also worked on human rights strategic litigation, as a Legal Support Officer at Matrix Chambers and as a Research Fellow on the judiciary’s role in protecting human rights.

Emily represented the UK in the G20’s official Youth Engagement Group in Tokyo in 2018. She negotiated policy recommendations with representatives from the G20 which were presented to the then Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe. In 2021 during the coronavirus pandemic, she worked as a Health Policy Sherpa when the UK hosted the G7. Through this, she coordinated health policy recommendations and worked with international experts in healthcare policy and pandemic response. The youth policies came to be discussed in national news coverage.

Emily taught the English language for many years.

Qualifications 

• Law with European Legal Studies, King’s College London- First Class Honours
• Bar Training Course, BPP University Law School – Very Competent
• MA in Human Rights and Humanitarian Action, Sciences Po- Cum Laude

Prizes, Scholarships and Academic Achievements 

• Major Scholarship, Inner Temple
• Excellence Scholarship, BPP
• Europe Scholarship, Sciences Po
• Human Rights Lawyers Association Scholarship
• Highest mark in Jurisprudence and Legal Theory, Kings College London
• The Jelf Medal, Kings College London (the university’s highest award which is awarded to the student who has most distinguished themselves in their cohort)
• Dickson Poon School of Law Scholarship, King’s College London

Memberships

• Court of Protection Bar Association
• Constitutional and Administrative Law Bar Association
• Professional Negligence Bar Association
• Attorney General’s Junior Junior Scheme
• ADVOCATE

Further information

For further details of Emily’s practice please contact a member of the clerking or client service team here.

Registered Name: Emily Campbell
Bar Council Membership No: 74912
VAT Registration No: 411584417

Privacy

Emily adopts and adheres to the provisions of her privacy notice which can be accessed here.