Orla Scanlan

Experience

• I qualified as a solicitor in 1994, joined BLM in 2000 and made partner in 2003.
• I am head of BLM's national police team and have over 20 years' experience in defending public liability and employers' liability claims on behalf of police forces across the country.
• I am instructed to deal with claims involving assault, wrongful arrest, unlawful stop and search, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, negligence, misfeasance, handling of public order/demonstrations and deaths in police custody.
• My particular strength is in advising on technical and complex claims arising out of alleged breaches of the Human Rights Act and associated Article 2 inquests.
• I was instructed in the reported case of AAA v Chief Constable of Kent (2017) in which the claim against the police for damages for privation of liberty in breach of Article 5 was struck out in the High Court.

Membership/appointments

• Chair of BLM's lawyers' forum.
• Secretary of BLM's social committee.