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 Dalian Atkinson, Sean Fitzgerald, 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.
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’.