Carolynn Gallwey

Carolynn has a particular interest currently in how discriminatory and/or heavy handed use of street level police powers impact on individuals and communities. She is especially concerned with how young people are often mistreated within the criminal justice system, from being arbitrarily stopped and searched, to being unnecessarily detained in cells, to being the victims of punishment-led incarceration practices in private Secure Training Centres. She also represents women victims of violence who have been failed by the police in their investigative functions.

Her inquest practice focusses on deaths in police custody, and in particular where restraint is a factor, and she has developed a body of expert knowledge in that area over a period of nearly 20 years. She has also represented the families of vulnerable people who have died in prison and mental health detention. These cases, pursued as private law claims for malicious prosecution, false imprisonment, assault, negligence, discrimination, breaches of the Human Rights Act and data breaches, through inquests and inquiries and through police complaints have secured a range of remedies for her clients: out of court settlements and judgments for damages ranging from several thousand pounds to more than a million pounds, criminal prosecutions and gross misconduct proceedings for police officers, apologies and the deletion of data, and even to HSE prosecutions and also the only Crown Censure of the Prison Service following a death in prison custody.

With colleagues, she regularly writes about and delivers training in her specialist areas, including through the Legal Action Group.