Legal Support

What is it for? 

Legal representation by your own lawyer can help you contribute to the legal work of the Inquiry and/or to the body of evidence the Chair of the Inquiry will consider in making his findings and recommendations

Legal support can also be provided to people involved in the work of the Inquiry by the Inquiry team, including the Inquiry’s own lawyers. The role of the Inquiry’s lawyers and the support which the Inquiry legal team can provide is explained below.

In addition, the Inquiry has been informed that some legal support can be made available to current or former employees of NHS Tayside. This is not the same as legal representation but may be appropriate for some to assist with engaging with the Inquiry. More information about that legal support service can be accessed via NHS Tayside.

Who is it for? 

Legal representation can be accessed by core participants and witnesses (meaning those who are asked to provide evidence to the Inquiry either in written form or at Inquiry evidential hearings).

It can also be accessed by others who, in certain circumstances, may require to access legal representation to assist in their engagement with the work of the Inquiry. 

Support from the Inquiry's lawyers, which is set out below, can be accessed by anyone involved in the Inquiry's work. 

How does it work? 

The Inquiry has the power to provide funding for those who wish to access legal representation, including witnesses and/or core participants, when they need advice from a legal representative relating to their engagement with the Inquiry's work.  

For example, the Inquiry can provide funding for legal representation to help people to provide evidence to the Inquiry in the form of an Inquiry witness statement or oral evidence at a hearing, or (for core participants) in making submissions about what the Inquiry should investigate or what the outcome of the Inquiry should be and why.

If you have a legal representative you would like to nominate to represent you in the work of the Inquiry, you should tell us. If you need funding for this legal representation, you can apply to have it paid for by the Inquiry. 

The Inquiry will not automatically provide funding but requires to assess whether it should be provided or not. The rules around how this works can be found here. 

Legal support from the Inquiry team can be accessed by contacting the Inquiry legal team at legal@eljamelinquiry.scot 

What legal representation can the Inquiry help with accessing? 

To date, the Inquiry has facilitated access to legal representation by providing funding: 

• for patient core participants to meet with their lawyers and provide them with instructions
• to allow patient core participants to have representation at the Inquiry’s procedural hearings
• to allow patients to provide input to the Inquiry’s Terms of Reference
• to have lawyers make opening statements on behalf of patient core participants
• to allow patient core participants to contribute to the Inquiry's List of Issues and letters of instruction for expert witnesses

It will include funding for: 

• representation and advice for core participants in reading and analysing documents recovered by the Inquiry
• representation and advice to help core participants to submit suggested questions for witnesses at the Inquiry’s evidential hearings

Legal representation must be provided based on your interests. The lawyers providing it to you are your lawyers - not the Inquiry's. 

It must be provided in a respectful, supportive way, according to required professional standards. If it is not, the Inquiry needs to know.

It can also be provided within the ICR process by lawyers whom you have selected and who can be paid for by the Scottish Government. 

What support can the Inquiry legal team provide? 

The Inquiry also has its own lawyers. They are there to help support the Chair in his work. They require to act in the public interest and according to the rules which govern the Inquiry.

The Inquiry legal team can assist you or (if appropriate) your legal representatives with various matters, including:

• explaining the Inquiry’s procedures for obtaining evidence, including the content and meaning of rule 8 requests or section 21 notices or warning letters;
• explaining and helping with other parts of the Inquiry’s legal processes, including applications for restriction of evidence or anonymity;
• helping to access documents from and share documents with the Inquiry;
• making suggestions as to how draft ICR applicant statements might be expanded upon or improved;
• making suggestions as to how draft Inquiry witness statements might be expanded upon or improved;
• managing deadlines imposed by the Inquiry to meet its evidential targets;
• finalising your Inquiry statements and other evidence provided to the Inquiry, including indexing and cataloguing of the evidence;
• helping you to prepare to give oral evidence by providing evidence proposals about the topics to be covered and documents which may be referred to;
• meeting you, if you are called upon to give oral evidence, on the day of your evidence to explain the broad process which will be followed; and
• help with other legal concerns or queries about legal matters arising from your involvement in the Inquiry, including signposting you to other support services when they are needed.

When should I use legal support?

When you need legal representation to help with your involvement in or contribution to the work of the Inquiry or the ICR. 

For witnesses, this could be assistance with providing your written statement or oral evidence to the Inquiry. 

For core participants, it could be help to access or analyse the evidence which the Inquiry has uncovered.

When you need help with legal matters on which the Inquiry can assist, such as those listed above.