Andrew Steel

Practice Areas

Andrew is a Partner working in our police team based in our Manchester office.

He acts for clients in predominantly two main areas. Firstly, he represents a number of police forces across the country, defending civil actions made against them. These include allegations of assault, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. He regularly deals with claims that are made under the Human Rights Act and has acted in a number of reported cases involving deaths in custody, breach of confidence claims for protected witnesses and the forcible removing of clothing from vulnerable persons whilst detained in custody.

Secondly, Andrew acts for a number of large corporate clients. Again, he defends civil claims made against them across the broad spectrum of employers liability and public liability law. He is particularly interested in using IT solutions to be able to generate sophisticated management information to assist clients in calculating their overall liability spend.

Regardless of the client he is acting for, he believes that good legal advice should be delivered in a clear, concise and straightforward way.

He regularly contributes articles for industry magazines and provides training sessions to clients and prospects alike.

Career

He has a particular interest in defending civil actions against the police. He has significant experience with claims involving false imprisonment, assault, malicious prosecution and claims under the Human Rights Act.

He has been involved in several reported cases, including:

- X & Y v Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police [2004] EWHC 764 (damages for disclosure of police informants identity)

- Haines v Staffordshire Police Authority (2008) [Lawtel AC011612] (medical case of disc prolapse)

- Hanagan v Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police (2009) [Lawtel AC012141] (death in custody and classification of "victim" under Article 2)

- Foreman v Commissioner of Police (2014) (unreported) (use of force during arrest at FA Cup semi-final)

- Davies v Chief Constable of Merseyside Police [2015] EWCA Civ 114 (breaches of codes of practice regarding detention of vulnerable adults)

- R (on the application of Segalov) v Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police [2018] EWCA 3187 (Judicial review of decision not to allow a reporter accreditation to attend a political event)

- Acting on behalf of a number of officers as part of the Undercover Policing Inquiry (www.ucpi.org.uk) (2017 to present)

- Tayyab v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (2022) (unreported) Reducing a pleaded claim of £1.5M to an award of £20,000 following a 6 day trial focusing on the psychiatric damage caused by an arrest

- Mills v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (2024) EWHC 273 (KB) (Claim made by estate of pedestrian who was killed following a collision with a police vehicle responding to an emergency call).

- Ansari v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis & Ors [2024] EWHC 2006 (KB) (31 July 2024)

Professional Memberships

Andrew is a member of the Forum of Insurance Lawyers (FOIL) Sector Focus Team for the Public Sector.

Publications

Police Professional