NewPractical Course for Coroners & Judges

The purpose of this course is to provide judges and coroners with the necessary knowledge and skills to prepare fully for an investigation into deaths and to conduct inquests. The course will also enable senior judges to supervise coroners in their work. The CMJA and Civil Service College have come together to organise this practical course which will explain and discuss the law and procedure of coroners.

This course will incorporate talks from CMJA professionals as well as site visits to various institutions for practical sessions. To see the full course schedule please follow this link.

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Programme Key Features:

• A full understanding of the essence of coroner investigation and inquests
• Learn how to prepare for an inquest
• Work through the key points in conducting inquests
• Complete an exercise on a controversial death in custody
• See a coroner at work and discuss that work
• Consider and discuss the specifics of their local coroner statutes

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Designed For:

Judges and Coroners

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Course Director:

Sir Peter Thronton QC

Formerly head of the well-known Doughty Street Chambers in London, judge at the Old Bailey and in the Court of Appeal, His Honour Sir Peter Thornton QC became the first Chief Coroner of England and Wales (2012-2016). He is now a Visiting Professor at King’s College London where he lectures on coroner law and practice. As Chief Coroner he provided national leadership for coroners, initiated extensive reforms, conducted high profile inquests and sat in the High Court on inquest appeals including the Hillsborough case. He achieved a reduction of over 50% in the number of inquests not completed within 12 months from death.

Having previously provided training for nearly 1,000 coroners and coroners’ officers, Peter Thornton now advises overseas territories on their coroner services and conducts coroner and judicial training. He has recently delivered courses in The Bahamas and The Gambia. He held a seminar on inquests at the CMJA Conference in Australia in 2018 and gave a well-received keynote speech (introduced by Chief Justice Maraga of Kenya) for the CMJA in Papua New Guinea in 2019 on judicial leadership. He is a contributing editor of Jervis on Coroners, the leading textbook in the field.
 

View course outline