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Daniel Machover is one of the UK’s leading solicitors in his field: an expert at vindicating the rights of people who have suffered at the hands of the state, in inquest and public inquiry work and in representing individuals and organisations in complex civil litigation cases.
Daniel specialises in coronial law and is the co-author of the ‘textbook’ for inquest lawyers. He has acted for bereaved families (and other Interested Persons and witnesses) in a wide range of inquests, including many complex and high profile cases. He has achieved formidable success at forcing authorities to revisit previous decisions, and worked with bereaved families to achieve long term policy changes.
Daniel also has considerable expertise in public inquiries, having represented core participants at the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and the Azelle Rodney Inquiry.
Daniel is also a leading practitioner in universal jurisdiction work, seeking criminal justice in the UK for victims of international crimes.
Daniel is a trustee of the charity INQUEST which provides a specialist, comprehensive advice service to bereaved people on contentious deaths and their investigation, having previously served as Chair between 2010 and 2021. He is also a member of the UK Board of Legal Action Worldwide, which helps gain access to justice for those who need it most in fragile and conflict-affected states.
Daniel Machover has a formidable reputation as an inquest and inquiry lawyer.
His book ‘Inquests – A Practitioners Guide’ (Thomas, Machover, Straw, Friedman) is considered the ‘textbook’ for inquest lawyers. A new edition is planned for publication in 2026.
Daniel has acted in some of the most significant and high profile inquests of the past twenty years, especially as they relate to deaths at the hand of the police or other state institutions.
His clients include the bereaved families of Chris Kaba, Sean Rigg and Azelle Rodney, all of which resulted in criminal and/or disciplinary proceedings against the police officers in question. He has also represented the family of footballer Emiliano Sala and the artist David Hockney.
Daniel is equally expert in public inquiry law. The department acted for core participants in the Grenfell Tower public inquiry and acts for core participants in the Undercover Policing Inquiry. He is a frequently media commentator on inquest and inquiry law.
Daniel has vast experience bringing human rights-related legal actions against state bodies, particularly the police and detaining authorities. While much of Daniel’s work in his area relates to deaths either at the hands of the police and/or occurring in police or prison custody, he has achieved success in representing clients who have been the victims of miscarriages of justice and serious misconduct by police or prison authorities. He and his team have acted in the inquests into deaths of, Sean Fitzgerald, Oladeji Omishore, Sean Rigg, Thomas Orchard and Azelle Rodney all of whom died after encountering the police and all of which resulted in criminal and/or disciplinary proceedings against the police officers in question. His team also acted for the family of Dalian Atkinson, with the lead officer who killed Dalian being convicted of manslaughter.
Daniel’s clients include financial professionals and celebrities to journalists, teachers, motorists, protestors and ordinary people who find themselves caught up in police operations and who have faced numerous complex and unusual policing situations. He has achieved legal redress over matters such as police cautions, search warrants and the decision to arrest.
Successfully challenging the state on human rights civil liberties issues requires in-depth knowledge of private law, public law, criminal law and information law. By working closely with the firm’s criminal defence department the civil team is uniquely placed to be able to creatively challenge the abuse and misuse of power by the police in a collaborative approach. The team’s extensive experience and innovative approach produces the best possible outcomes for clients from the police complaint stage to Strasbourg.
Daniel brought a ground-breaking group action for prisoners alleging assault and systemic management failures in HMP Wormwood Scrubs during the 1990s and his department have brought a series of claims for abused prisoners from HMP Leeds and HMYOI Portland.
Daniel received the Margery Fry Award from the Howard League for Penal Reform for ‘ensuring the protection of prisoners through the tenacious pursuit of legal remedies’.
Defending civil liberties and human rights from state abuses of power is the core work of Hickman & Rose’s civil team and as head of the department Daniel Machover is a leader in this field. Successfully challenging the state on human rights civil liberties issues requires in-depth knowledge of private law, public law, criminal law and information law. He has significant experience in challenging decisions by the IOPC (previously the IPCC). By working closely with the firm’s criminal defence department the civil team is uniquely placed to be able to creatively challenge the abuse and misuse of power by the police in a collaborative approach. He has helped clients hold to account police officers ranging in rank from PCSO all the way to Chief Constable. He has achieved significant success using Judicial Review to force the police and other decision makers in the criminal justice system to act within the law.
Daniel’s work for victims of crimes at the hand of state agents has led to the prosecutions of police officers and prison officers, while his work for victims of state crimes abroad (war crimes, torture and crimes against humanity) has placed him at the forefront of the movement for universal criminal jurisdiction. He has helped to establish the equal application of the rule of law in all circumstances. In light of this expertise, he has been invited to address members of the European and UK Parliaments in London and Brussels on the theme of universal jurisdiction.
Daniel acts for both claimants and defendant in civil fraud cases. He has long experience in civil litigation, successfully representing individuals and businesses in civil claims arising from the criminal justice system.
Key clients included a politician’s son, for whom Daniel fought off allegations of being involved a multi-million pound fraud; a claim for his spouse of being defrauded in relation to the purchase of gold coins; a corporate enforcing a multi-million Euro foreign judgment against a UK resident and a businessman defrauded while acting as an ‘angel investor’.
Often working in close collaboration with the lawyers in the firm’s criminal department, the firm’s dispute resolution team leverages its litigation expertise to work in close collaboration with the firm’s corporate criminal lawyers to maximise clients’ ability to achieve the desired outcome.
28 Jan 2026
Family members of Chris Kaba, their solicitors Daniel Machover and Ellie Cornish, and INQUEST’s Deborah Coles have today responded to the IOPC’s decision to pause…
27 Nov 2025
Counsel instructed by Hickman & Rose today made submissions for an intervener in the judicial review of the Government’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation.
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23 Oct 2025
Today, the Home Office has published its response to a rapid review into police accountability.
This review was announced in October 2024 following the acquittal of Metropolitan Police…
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